The Auckland suburb of Papakura is the area in New Zealand with the biggest increase in first-home property values in 2021, new data shows.
A report from Quotable Value (QV) sums up first-home property values in the 11 months to November 30, indicating Papakura's increased 41 percent to an average value of $816,410.
QV says Christchurch came in second with a 37.7 percent increase followed by Auckland's Franklin (33.7 percent), Napier (30.2) and New Plymouth (30).
First-home buyers will be "finding things even more difficult right now", with rising interest rates and lack of affordability beginning to bite, QV spokesperson Simon Petersen says.
Data from QV's report also shows even bigger increases outside of New Zealand's main centres. First-home property values in Taranaki's Stratford spiked 59.8 percent while Waitomo in Waikato saw an increase of 57.2 percent.
South Taranaki had an increase of 45.4 percent.
QV says it doesn't expect to see a significant drop in property values next year either. Petersen thinks things will still be difficult for first-home buyers for the foreseeable future.
"This spring swing from entry-level properties to the far more expensive homes at the top of the property ladder suggests that rising interest rates and affordability constraints are starting to bite first-home buyers, who will be finding things even more difficult right now. As a consequence, that section of the market is slowing, while people further up the ladder will still be able to use the sizeable gains they've made over the last year to trade their way up.
"Auckland was a prime example of this shift in price pressure from the bottom of the property ladder to the top, with entry-level home values increasing by an average rate of 5.9 percent in the November quarter, compared to 9.4 percent in the upper quartile.
"The only main centre where the rate of first-home value growth has not trended downward as the year has gone on is Christchurch, which hit an annual high growth rate of 15.3 percent in the three months to November 2021.
"Although we haven't yet seen any impact in Christchurch from the tightening of lending, the increase in the OCR, and rising mortgage interest rates, that will likely change in 2022.
"I have a feeling we're not going to see another year quite like 2021 again," Petersen added.
Treasury earlier this month said it expected house prices to increase more than 10 percent in 2022 after a 29 percent rise this year.
