Carterton property owners will soon receive new three-yearly rating valuations in the post.
Updated values have been prepared for all 5248 properties in the district by independent valuers Quotable Value [QV], reflecting the likely price a property would have sold for on September 1, 2023, not including chattels.
Since the district’s last revaluation in 2020, the value of residential housing has increased by an average of 16.5 per cent.
The average house value is now at $615,000, while the corresponding average land value has increased by 27.7 per cent to a new average of $275,000.
QV lead valuer Blake Ngarimu said the past three years have been a “turbulent” for the property market, with record-low interest rates helping to drive significant value growth in 2021, before experiencing a long period of decline throughout 2022, which continued until the end of May 2023.
“Carterton experienced significant value growth throughout 2021 much like the rest of New Zealand, peaking with an average value of just under $780,000 – a 44 per cent increase over the 2020 revaluation,” Ngarimu said.
“Though property values have softened over the past 18 months or so due to increased interest rates, they’re still above where they were at the 2020 revaluation.
“The market stabilised at the start of 2023, seven months prior to the revaluation date of September 1, with no subsequent value declines being recorded.
“However, the market has experienced some slight growth since that revaluation date.”
The average capital value of an improved lifestyle property has increased by 18.9 per cent to $879,000, while the corresponding land value for a lifestyle property increased by 13.1 per cent to $400,000.
“Carterton’s lifestyle market has seen strong growth since 2020,” Ngarimu added.
Meanwhile, commercial property values have increased by 21.1 per cent and property values in the industrial sector have increased by 55.6 per cent since the district’s last rating valuation in 2020.
Commercial and industrial land values have also increased by 25.3 per cent and 96.6 per cent respectively.
A Carterton District Council spokesperson said Carterton’s industrial rates were similar to Masterton and Kāpiti Coast.
“There has been a big demand for industrial land in the Wellington region, and very little vacancy in developed industrial land and land zoned as industrial,” they spokesperson said.
Ngarimu said the strongest industrial growth in Carterton was in Waingawa.
“The increase for industrial properties reflects the low vacancy rate pushing up rents for industrial properties over the three-year period.
“The low vacancy rate pushed land values up over 2021 and 2022,” he said.
“Although this has come back from its peak due to higher construction costs, land values are still significantly above their 2020 levels.”
Forestry and pastoral dominate the local rural sector, with a 42.1 per cent increase in capital values for the former and a 22.7 per cent increase for the latter.
“The rural market was very buoyant through 2020 to the middle of 2022 on the back of strong demand for land for forestry conversion.
“From early 2023, however, rural markets have largely been subdued, due to pressures from new forestry regulations, commodity prices and rising interest rates.
“This has resulted in a rapid decline in farm values, especially pastoral properties that were previously sought after for forestry conversion.
“However, there have been some upward market movements observed from their 2020 levels, driven by the earlier demand forestry conversion of suitable pastoral holdings from both corporate and private investors.”
The total rateable value for the district is now $4.78 billion, with the land value of those properties now valued at $2.68 billion.
Agree with the comments made and unfortunately 😕 we are just rate payers and have no voice. Wairarapa councils are out of control run by CEOS and managers voted councilors just overpaid tea boys. Rates MUST be changed and end the 3 Wairarapa councils bleeding rate payers.
The valuation timetable is unfortunately well out of sync with the residential property market. Sales are stalled; 2023 prices are just not attainable. There should be compensatory adjustments to the QV schedules based on ‘real time’ real estate data. TA should ask the Carterton estate agents how many residential properties in the 750,000 to 1.2 million $$ range are currently on the market and for how long.