But that still doesn’t match the height of the house-price boom in 2016, when 11,648 million dollar-plus properties changed hands around the country.

The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand’s Million Dollar Price Report, released this week, showed Auckland was the only region to drop.

In the Auckland market, the number of million-dollar properties sold during 2018 was 7,888, down from 8,014 homes the previous year. This was the lowest number of million dollar-plus properties sold in Auckland for four years.

REINZ’s Bindi Norwell says in a press release that the nationwide figure was dragged down by the “Auckland impact”.

“If you remove Auckland from the picture, then the number of million-dollar plus properties actually significantly increased 26.9 per cent, which has been largely driven by the regional growth the country has been experiencing,” Norwell says.

Which regions are hot

Marlborough had the biggest growth in million-dollar sales, REINZ says. In 2017, 11 properties sold for $1 million or more. But in 2018, 21 properties sold for $1 million or more.

Meanwhile, 13 out of 15 regions saw year-on-year increases in number of properties for $1 million-plus, with Southland remaining steady.

“All regions except Auckland and Southland reached record numbers of properties sold for $1 million or more in 2018,” Norwell says.

Other regions with the strongest increases in the number of million-dollar plus sales year-on-year were:

• Manawatu/Wanganui +83.3%: up from 12 to 22 properties

• Northland +62.3%: up from 69 to 112 properties

• Gisborne +50.0%: up from 4 to 6

• Nelson +45.7%: up from 35 to 51.

Published 14 February 2019

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