THE CHANGING WORLD OF APARTMENTS

Intensification may be the way of the future, but apartments have had a hard run over the past few years.

In places like central Auckland, the dearth of international students saw the inner-city turn into a ghost town. Many of these apartments are now used for social housing, but as the borders open again it’s likely international students will start to return.

Sales prices have been shrinking. For example, 40m² apartments in the Volt on Queen Street were selling pre-pandemic for $400,000. One recently sold for under $300,000 - about a 25 per cent drop - causing shock for investors, although City Sales sales manager Scott Dunn can't see them falling any further.

He says that cashed up buyers have little competition in the market. Two-bedroom properties with a car park are selling fast, while bigger, leasehold and leaky apartments that need remediation are taking longer to sell. “There