Mixed bag for the big cities

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Auckland's stable, Wellington's dipped and Christchurch is stable. That's the word from the latest market survey by Massey University.

Wednesday, December 22nd 1999, 12:00AM

by Paul McBeth

Auckland's stable, Wellington's dipped and the Christchurch market is flat.

That's the word from Massey University's Real Estate Analysis Unit, via a December quarterly roundup of the three cities. In its regular survey of confidence in the residential property market, it found that:

• Confidence in the Auckland market next year is likely to be underpinned by a strengthening economy and by interest rates that should remain below their 1996-98 peaks.

• In Wellington, confidence is down in all market sectors. However, optimists still outweigh pessimists for low and medium-priced housing. Some of those surveyed said that the growth in Wellington house prices over the last few years has started to erode housing affordability and confidence.

• The outlook for the Christchurch residential property market is little changed from three months ago, with a net 17 per cent of those surveyed expecting the market to improve over the next six months. Some panellists said that a lot of new sections were coming onto the market on the city outskirts and this has caused a softening in some section prices.

The surveys are based on questionnaires completed by market specialists in each city, including estate agents, solicitors, developers, valuers and property analysts.

Paul is a staff writer for Good Returns based in Wellington.

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