5 great places to be a first-home buyer

In 2020, we analysed the very best locations in New Zealand to be a first-home purchaser – however quite a bit has modified since then. 4 years later, we’ve crunched the information once more to establish the areas with the very best job markets, family incomes, comparatively inexpensive houses, and nice way of life elements.

With all these elements in thoughts, which areas are the very best for first-home consumers in 2024?

1. Decrease Hutt

The Wellington area has the nation’s highest common family earnings (over $150,000) and a thriving job market. Wellington Metropolis is vibrant and simple to navigate, with a world class café tradition and a persona all its personal.

However whereas the capital metropolis is a superb alternative for anybody wanting an outstanding work-life steadiness, simply up the highway could also be a fair higher compromise for the first-time purchaser.

Decrease Hutt is extra inexpensive, with a median of $775,000 and a decrease quartile of $614,000, in comparison with $955,000 and $760,000 in Wellington Metropolis. The Authorities’s First Residence Grant may assist with a deposit however the properties it applies to are value capped based on space.

The $750,000 cap for present properties within the Wellington City Space will provide you with loads of alternative all through Decrease Hutt, from smaller locations in Petone by means of to household houses on full sections in Stokes Valley. You’re solely half an hour into Wellington Metropolis, so the whole lot you want is shut at hand, however you don’t have to pay full metropolis costs and you might have that mortgage paid off a lot sooner.

2. Hawke’s Bay

“An nearly Mediterranean way of life” is how the native council describes Hawke’s Bay, with its enviable mixture of vineyards, eating places, seashores and balmy local weather. It may need a modest inhabitants, however Hawke’s Bay has the one of many highest charges of job listings exterior the primary centres (overwhelmed solely by outlier Queenstown), with 47 jobs per 10,000 residents. Plus, common salaries in Hawke’s Bay had been the best in New Zealand in February.

The First Residence Grant value cap in Hawkes Bay is $625,000, which can comfortably purchase you a lower-quartile dwelling in both Hastings ($551,000), Napier ($592,000). Flaxmere had the best proportion of first-home consumers within the nation in early 2022, and you may nonetheless choose up a traditional three-bedroom dwelling on a full part right here for beneath the home value cap.

3. Christchurch

Christchurch topped this listing in 2020, and 4 years later it stays a superb alternative for first-home consumers. It has among the latest general housing inventory in Aotearoa, and it’s a fantastically accessible metropolis with a community of cycleways, new roads, a ferry service and a helpful bus system. The central metropolis regeneration is a hit, the native colleges are extremely rated, and the climate will be beautiful.  

There are greater than 40 jobs per 10,000 residents in Canterbury, with common family incomes over $120,000. The median home value is $742,000, with a decrease quartile of $552,000. The home value cap of $575,000 will purchase you a two- or three-bedroom dwelling in one of many satellite tv for pc suburbs corresponding to Woolston, Bromley or Hornby – although well-presented examples are skinny on the bottom – or an condominium within the metropolis centre. 

4. Papakura and Franklin, Auckland

Visitors may be a nightmare, however Auckland is ranked among the many world’s most habitable cities for good causes. Heat climate, attractive seashores, and the nation’s prime colleges are among the many many promoting factors.

Auckland has by far the most important and most various job market within the nation. Incomes are additionally robust, with Auckland households incomes a median of round $150,000 a yr. You’ll want an honest revenue as a result of housing is dear; in 4 of Auckland’s seven outdated wards, median home values are over $1.1 million.

However simply south of Auckland, two are extra inexpensive: Papakura and Franklin within the south have median values slightly below $900,000. The First Residence Grant value cap in Auckland is $875,000, which might purchase you a decrease quartile dwelling in Papakura ($759,000) or Franklin ($735,000). You’ll get a three-bedroom dwelling at that value level, typically on an honest part, however anticipate it to want a complete reno.

Sadly, the town’s 1.7 million inhabitants all prefer to journey by automotive, so visitors is an ongoing problem if you wish to work within the CBD however dwell in these extra inexpensive areas. If you could find a office nearer to dwelling, nonetheless, Auckland has the whole lot it’s essential take pleasure in a improbable way of life – leisure, seashores, actions, facilities, and purchasing.

5. Hamilton

Hamilton made the listing in 2020 as a prime spot for first-home consumers, and it stays a stable alternative. It’s a younger, fast-growing metropolis with a stable job market and common family incomes over $120,000. Simple to get round by automotive, with new cycleways including to its accessibility, residents are useful to Auckland, Tauranga and the lakes.

Hamilton has a median home worth of round $800,000 (up from $650,000 in 2020) and a lower-quartile worth of $636,000, towards a home value cap of $650,000. For that price range you’ll choose up a three-bedroom household dwelling in a suburb like Fairfield, so long as you’re ready to deal with some renovations. Alternatively, you might plump for a more recent, smaller townhouse or condominium within the metropolis centre.

Honourable point out: Invercargill

Inexpensive, habitable, loads of job listings and the third highest revenue ranges within the nation – you’ll be spoilt for alternative when shopping for a primary dwelling in Invercargill. You’ll simply have to acclimatise to the Southland climate.

*Sources: Median home values for all inventory (not gross sales costs) as at January 2024 equipped by CoreLogic; property listings on TradeMe Property and up to date gross sales on Properties.co.nz; regional family incomes (common revenue from all sources collected) from StatsNZ; jobs fee for every area (not territorial authority) from Search on February 14 2020, dividing by the inhabitants for the area sourced from Stats NZ, and multiplying by 10,000; up to date First Residence Grant value cap knowledge out there right here.