Property market ends 2023 on firm note

Christchurch was one of three regions in New Zealand registering increases of more than one percent in average property values in December, according to the CoreLogic House Price Index.

After October’s 0.4% increase and the 0.7% gain in November, December saw a rise in property values of 1.0%. This is the strongest monthly gain since January 2022 (2.1%). The average value now stands at $924,489, up 2.1% over the past three months since September’s cyclical trough.

National property values remain 3.3% below this time last year, and 11.4% lower than the peak from two years ago. The gains were widespread across the major centres in December, with Tauranga, Auckland, and Christchurch all registering increases of more than 1%.

Kelvin Davidson, CoreLogic’s Chief Property Economist, says the continued gains in December weren’t a surprise, and he is anticipating continued ‘patchiness’ in 2024,
both in terms of the changes from month-to-month, and variability across the regional markets.

“A further rise in property values in December seemed almost inevitable given housing market sentiment has risen in recent months. This is off the back of several factors including the change of government, a peak (and some falls) in mortgage rates, continued growth in employment, and soaring net migration,” Kelvin says, adding that affordability remains a major property market issue.