House buying: Aucklanders and Aussies eyeing Northland properties

Aucklanders are the main people looking at Northland homes for sale, but plenty of people from Australia are also keen.

Northland's average asking house price has jumped to more than $592,000 with most online searches for properties in the region from Aucklanders.

Figures supplied by realestate.co.nz - which has about 97 per cent of all properties listed for sale in New Zealand - shows of the 43,586 viewings in March, 17,625 viewers were based in Auckland, 6566 in Northland, and 4214 from Australia, with 1679 from New South Wales, 1541 from Queensland and 994 from Victoria.

A further 2293 came from Wellington, 1424 from Waikato, 1408 from Canterbury, 1325 from Bay of Plenty and 1295 from England.

Northland was in the top five "hot regions" that recorded more than a 3.5 per cent increase in asking prices in March as well as a healthy lift in the number of new listings compared with the same month last year.

At 13.7 per cent with an asking price of $592,091 Northland came second behind Gisborne on percentage increase but ahead of Marlborough (8.9 per cent), Coromandel (6.8 per cent) and Hawke's Bay (3.8 per cent).

Realestate.co.nz calculates the average asking price by taking all the residential properties in Northland, deducting the top and bottom 10 per cent of their values, averaging the remaining number then seasonally adjusting it.

Spokeswoman Vanessa Taylor said a huge number of Aucklanders were interested in buying in Northland because they wanted to get out of a bigger city, and enjoy the Northland lifestyle and weather.

"If you have equity built up in a bigger city, you can potentially buy a water view property in Northland. Aucklanders buying in Northland is quite a different market because they may pay a lot more than locals.

"A property is only worth what people can put their hand in their pocket and pay," she said.

Truck driver Max Guyatt moved back to Whangarei from Auckland in January and bought a two-bedroom unit in Kamo.

He sold his home in west Auckland and after buying up in Whangarei, he's not only mortgage free but has cash left over.

"I think the majority of Aucklanders are looking for investment properties in Northland rather than live in them. There are odd ones like myself and retirees who buy lifestyle blocks.

"House prices up here is definitely going to rise over the next two to three years then plateau. Rentals here are $150 to $200 less than in Auckland," Mr Guyatt said.

He left Northland at the age of 23 and has returned 26 years later for two reasons; to escape Auckland's busy life and to be closer to his parents who live in Whangarei.

New listings in Northland in March were 576, up 11.6 per cent compared to the same month last year. However, housing stock of 1425 was down 5.5 per cent during the same period.

The largest searching group for houses in Northland in March was women aged 45 to 54 while the smallest group was males aged between 18 and 24.

Ms Taylor said houses up to $500,000 were the most searched for, followed by those with a maximum value of $600,000 and the least viewings were for properties worth $300,000 and below.

Ninety-seven per cent of all properties for sale by real estate companies throughout New Zealand are listed on realestate.co.nz.