Feilding's first $2 million house sale occurred with a property on McIntyre Lane. Photo / Susan Edmunds
By RNZ
Feilding recently had its first $2 million house sale when a property with a large section and standout views on McIntyre Lane changed hands, in an off-market transaction.
But Cotality data shows it is not the only part of the country where only one sale has surpassed that level.
In Whanganui, the $2m benchmark was breached for the first time last year when a house with water views in Saint Johns Hill sold for $2.1m.
Upper Hutt had its one and only $2m sale in Heretaunga in April 2024, when a Fergusson Drive home sold for $2,236,910.
Masterton recorded a $2m sale in March 2023 when a house on Cole St sold for $2.12m.
Cotality head of research Nick Goodall said the properties would usually have unique characteristics.
“I think it’s maybe a reflection on if you build a high-end property in some of those areas they’re still going to be worth a lot of money.
“It may be most often it’s going to be someone that’s lived somewhere else moved to that area and then built a high-spec home.
“It’s not like there’s going to be hundreds or thousands of those properties at that level in many of those areas. It’s probably quite unique, but it stands out for that reason, right? You know, if you’ve got one $2m property in an area and most are worth a lot less than that, then it’s definitely going to stand out.”
He said higher-end properties often operated as their own housing market, less affected by other economic cycles.
“They’re not going to be as affected by mortgage rates or lending conditions or credit conditions. I do think that they’re generally going to be built by people that have already got equity in the market. They’re likely going to be moving from another area or it’s an additional property for them.
“And they’ve got the ability, from an equity perspective or cashflow perspective, to be able to build those types of properties and not spare any cost to really go high-end wherever they want to.
“That end of the market is a little bit different to the rest, the lower to middle is those first-time buyers, investors looking at yield.
“That middle section is what we’ve been talking about where we do expect those owner-occupiers moving house to start to get going as the economy improves. Of course, that economic recovery has been put into question now with the global conflict going on.”
He said the best example of a high-end market operating independently was Queenstown.
“We’ve seen it move to the beat of its own drum. It doesn’t really get affected by everything else that’s going on because it’s truly international. There’s a restriction on land and how many properties are there, and people that are buying there are generally not affected by credit conditions.”
Nicola Barnett – who brokered the Feilding sale – said she had also been responsible for the region’s first $1m sale, in 2018.
“I’m sure there are a lot of homes out there that are worth that or more but not just not on the market. It was an outstanding property and there just hasn’t been anything sold like it yet in Feilding.
“There’s probably a bit more depth in that buyer pool in Feilding than maybe people thought, which is exciting … it was a beautiful home with amazing views.”
There were a large number of areas that have never had a $2m sale for a single, standalone residential dwelling – not including lifestyle blocks. They included Matamata-Piako, Ōtorohanga, South Waikato, Waitomo, Kawerau, Ōpōtiki, Wairoa, Stratford, Carterton, Kaikoura, Waimate and Clutha.
Goodall said some of the areas still had top sales around $1m.
“It’s probably just a natural progression of things. The fact that the ability to live in different areas means that you’re going to have some of those more higher-end properties start to show up in those areas, but it just takes time I guess.”
– RNZ