Is Taupō the next Pauanui?
I’m sure it is not news to you that our local Taupo property market has been booming over the last 12 months. In fact, you’re probably sick of hearing about it. But what you might not be aware of is the seismic shift in the types of properties that are being are being sold.
22% of all house sales recorded this year have been over $1,000,000.*
That is quite a staggering statistic. To put that in perspective, there have already been 88 individual million-dollar house sales in the first six months of this year. If we look at the full 12 months from last year, there were only 97 sold. So you can see we are well on track to absolutely smash this record out of the park.
Bayleys have sold a staggering 39 properties over a million dollars so far this year (Bayleys Statistics Jan - Jun 2021) and are very much at the forefront of this interesting change. Here’s a sample of what has been selling:
(* Source: REINZ Statistics)
This all begs the question - Is Taupo fast becoming the next Pauanui? Is this change the result of people flooding out of Auckland and the other major centres to come here, buy up large, and ruin our town by bringing in more traffic lights? The answer to this question is surprisingly, no not at all.
44% of all property sales are locals. That's people upsizing, downsizing, changing school zones etc. Auckland only makes up 23%, with the rest of our neighbouring regions making up the rest.
And if anyone tries to tell you that overseas buyers are still a big player, it’s simply not true I’m afraid (…That’s so 2010). Overseas buyers only make up less than 1% of all property sold.
So while sales in the upper-end of the property market have certainly seen a dramatic increase, it doesn’t appear to be the result of a flood of city-folk descending on our town, but rather the result of other favourable economic conditions that have lead to more movement in the upper end of the market.
Source: Bayleys Taupo Purchaser Statistics
So whilst the continued upward trajectory of our local economy is certainly positive, the major challenge facing all segments of the housing market is that of supply versus demand, where currently the national listing stock remains at an all time record low.
That said, we are currently seeing early activity in the Spring market which, coupled with interest rate sensitivities, may well signal a change in the current climate.