Signs of growth at last for Christchurch property market

The Christchurch property market is finally starting to show signs of growth, property data and information firm CoreLogic says.

CoreLogic released its QV January 2020 House Price Index on Tuesday, which shows national property values rose by 0.7 per cent last month, with the annual rate of growth increasing to 4.4 per cent.

“In Christchurch, there are signs of the first real growth in the market since the middle of 2014, with growth in the three months to the end of January hitting 2.1 per cent,” said CoreLogic head of research Nick Goodall.

Nationally, the housing market has strengthened with four per cent growth over the last year. 

“Property values strengthened in each of the six main centres as well as most of the main urban areas - particularly in those areas with lower average values,” said Mr Goodall. 

“The impact of low interest rates on housing affordability is too big to ignore.

“We measure affordability in four different ways - the median multiple (property value to income), the proportion of household income required to service a new mortgage, time to save a 20 per cent deposit and rent to income ratio. 

“Taking all these things into account you get a much better feel for affordability in an area.”

Meanwhile, Mr Goodall said the Queenstown Lakes District has hit a plateau in property values, as the foreign buyer ban and high property values (average of $1.2 million) continue to have an impact.

At the other end of the spectrum, Dunedin remains at the heart of the growing property market, with annual growth increasing beyond 20 per cent at the end of January. 

The QV January 2020 House Price Index can be found here.