Trade Me data has confirmed what many home buyers already know - Auckland properties are attracting a "staggering" amount of interest as prices continue to skyrocket.
According to Trade Me's data for October 2020, released today, the average asking price for an Auckland home cracked the $1 million mark for the first time in history last month.
Year on year, the average asking price has risen a record 9.4 per cent, or $86,000, to $1,003,300.
Trade Me Property spokesperson Logan Mudge said there continues to be strong demand for property in the region, with listing views up a "staggering" 22 per cent on 2019.
"From what we are seeing, record low interest rates and the need for more space appear to be fueling the market in the region," Mudge said.
"After two lockdowns this year, Aucklanders appear to be in a race for space, with many Kiwis reconsidering their lifestyles and looking for bigger homes."
Those bigger homes, with more than five bedrooms, saw the largest jump in average asking prices, up 13 per cent to $1,534,350 in October, while smaller one to two bedroom units saw the average price rise 4.5 per cent to $641,450.
"Supply simply isn't meeting demand in the region with the number of properties on the market up just four per cent on October
2019," Mudge said.
"While homeowners will be happy, those Kiwis trying to get their foot on the first rung of the Auckland property ladder will be finding it much harder."
Wellington also continued to experience fast-rising prices in October, with average asking prices up 10 per cent to a new record high of $736,100.
Every region in the country saw property prices increase year-on-year last month, including many experiencing double-digit growth.
"The property market is looking very strong right across the country with eleven out of the country’s fifteen regions reaching record property prices in October," Mudge said.
"Canterbury, Otago, Waikato and the West Coast were the only regions that didn’t reach a new record, however, they all saw property prices increase when compared with October 2019."
Trade Me's figures echo those of the Real Estate Institute, released last week.
REINZ figures show Auckland’s median house price reached $1 million in October, 2020.
Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr said last week that the record prices were not being caused by the Reserve Bank, saying the issue comes down to a lack of supply.
"It's not the Reserve Bank, what the Reserve Bank is doing is making sure credit is available to the banking system," Orr said.
"It's the banking system who allocates capital and it's individuals out in society who borrows capital and who chooses to do what they do with it.
"Intergenerational fairness is something that I'd lose sleep over - but it's not something that I could intervene with with the tools of monetary policy."
Following those comments, it was announced on Saturday that the Reserve Bank would in fact re-introduce loan-to-value ratio (LVR) restrictions for investors in March next year.
ASB and ANZ have both pre-empted the move, upping their own LVRs from 20 per cent to 30 per cent - meaning investors will need a minimum 30 per cent of the value of a property as a deposit.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said last week that the government is "concerned around what's happening with prices and that accessibility" for first-home buyers.
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