How expensive are homes in Wellington?

[dawn1]

I’ve read about the Auckland housing bubble so I know that buying a first home in NZ’s biggest city isn’t the easiest but is the same true in the capital? If I’m settling I’d like to be able to get my own place before too long.

[Duncan_Reed]

Hi Dawn. The housing market is busy in Wellington but not crazy like Auckland has been. The average house price in Auckland recently went through the $1m barrier. In Wellington the average price is $640k. It all depends on what you're looking for within that of course and what you want your commute time to look like. Wellington is well served by public transport, with good rail service to add to buses. Your best place for more information on house prices in Wellington is www.qv.co.nz - they are the folks who do the actual property valuation work.

[Simon_Morris]

Hi Dawn

As investors feel the Auckland market is hitting a plateau with the average house price breaking the $1M barrier for the first time, Wellington - although it's median Sept 16 house value is much less at $480K (http://www.interest.co.nz/property/house-price-income-multiples) , prices are rapidly moving upwards as those investors move away from Auckland to the other main cities looking for growth and return with a 21% YoY increase (Sept 15 - Sept 16), compared with 15% in Auckland.
When you relate those prices to median NZ household incomes, Wellington sits a 5.17 multiple and Auckland metro currently at 9.24.
As Duncan has suggested qv.co.nz is a good resource for market trends and neighbourhood prices, a resource like homes.co.nz is also good for looking at particular property price estimations.