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More evidence has emerged the property boom in Queenstown is slowing down or may indeed have stopped.
The latest statistics from Quotable Value (QV) showed Queenstown’s average home value is teetering on the edge of its first average annual home value decline since September 2020.
The average home value in Queenstown is at $1,661,930, just 0.1% higher than the same time last year, the latest QV figures recording a quarterly decline of 3.2% since the start of this calendar year.
In February, QV reported the first quarterly decline for Queenstown of 0.7%.
Bayleys Queenstown executive director Stacy Coburn said there were still some buyers floating around, but impacts from interest rate changes and movements from the Reserve Bank had made an impact.
Queenstown had held up well compared to most main centres around the country, he said.
Sales volume was down, and there was adjustment from some sellers around prices.
It was looking like an up-and-down year for real estate, and much might depend on the election, he said.
Interest was coming from all parts of the country and a lot of people from Auckland were showing interest in the wake of the cyclone activity in the North Island.
Many Aucklanders who had holiday homes in Queenstown were shifting permanently to Queenstown, Mr Coburn said.
In Dunedin, residential property values slid into autumn at a slower rate of reduction than the national average.
From January 1 to March 31, the average home value in Dunedin has fallen 1.6% to $633,371. That figure is now 9.9% lower than at the same time last year. For comparison, the national average home value has fallen by 3.9% to $907,737 since the start of the calendar year, and by 13.3% since the same time last year.
Dunedin QV registered valuer Rebecca Johnston said Dunedin’s number of sales was tracking downwards heading into the cooler months, supply continuing to exceed demand.
"Sale prices are still softening here, as they are throughout much of the rest of the country," she said.
"Investors are still taking a back seat. They will be feeling the pinch of higher interest rates and further increases to the OCR. Some are choosing to off-load their debt and ease some pressure by reducing sale prices to achieve quicker sales.
"Off-plan townhouses continue to be their preferred investment choice with no brightline test applicable to new builds, as well as mortgage interest deductibility, compared to existing builds."
Home values continue to track downwards in Invercargill.
Invercargill’s average home value has decreased by 3.1% throughout the first three months of 2023 to reach $452,355. It is a faster rate of decline than in the three months to the end of 2022, when values fell by an average of 1.8%.
