Photo / Paul Taylor
New Zealand's roaring property market is leaving Hawke's Bay in the doldrums - with Wairoa's house prices the hardest hit in the country.
House prices have seen a nationwide increase of 16.2 per cent since 2007, with spikes recorded in Auckland and Christchurch, but 37 regions are in decline.
Property figures showed Wairoa was the hardest hit area in the country, with house prices dropping 41.9 per cent since the 2007 property boom.
Napier's house prices were described as "stable," with a drop of 3.3 per cent, but Wairoa, Hastings and Central Hawke's Bay declining.
TelferYoung property valuer and chairman of the Hawke's Bay branch of the Property Institute of New Zealand, Trevor Kitchin, said the region's flailing house prices were part of a trend seen throughout regional New Zealand.
"Apart from Auckland and Christchurch, the rest of the country's prices are treading water on average.
"One of the main drivers for house prices is population growth. In areas like Hawke's Bay the population has not been increasing. In Auckland there's more demand than supply, whereas in Hawke's Bay supply and demand are more at equilibrium, so there's nothing to drive prices up."
He said economic conditions also had a bearing on the region's house prices.
"There's not enough activity, not enough jobs - it's a pretty common theme around provincial New Zealand."
He added: "Napier and Hastings prices have been pretty stable. Our expectation would be that prices are not going to change dramatically up or down."
Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said the key to kickstarting house prices was economic prosperity.
"Napier house prices have been pretty static for the last 10 years. The thing that will drive prices will be economic growth and creating jobs in Hawke's Bay. What we should be concentrating on is attracting businesses to Hawke's Bay."
Hastings Mayor Lawrence Yule said the slide was "a further reflection of the relative health of regional New Zealand."
He said the region's building industry was "full of casualties" due to a lack of growth in its housing sector, the most recent example being Mercy Renovators, which was last week put into liquidation.
Meanwhile, Wairoa Mayor Craig Little found a silver lining to the decline in his district, which saw house prices almost halved in the past seven years.
"Lower house prices help make homes more affordable in Hawke's Bay, especially for Aucklanders.
" In addition to lower house prices, new job opportunities through the KiwiBank call centre and the proposed new water bottling plant in Hastings make our region an even more attractive place to live."
Harcourts Wairoa licensee and former valuer Trevor Lyall said the district's market was so small that it was easy for figures to be distorted by "a few very low sales".
Poor property maintenance may also have contributed to the dive. Wairoa housing values increased 200-300 per cent about 10 years ago due to foreign investment, but many owners had not maintained or improved their properties.
Well-maintained properties were selling at their rateable values.
Tremains Real Estate managing director Simon Tremain said the property figures, which he deemed "a fair indication" of the state of play for the region's market, showed Napier and Hastings house prices were relatively stable. Wairoa and CHB, however, were hampered by dwindling employment.
"Opportunities in small-town New Zealand are not what they used to be." But he said the outlook for Hawke's Bay's housing market was bright if leaders worked to stimulate jobs.
"Hawke's Bay is a great, affordable place to live. We just need more job opportunities."