How Much Will Aucklanders Pay to Live Close to a Heritage Area?

Heritage Special Character Area

Recent research by Auckland Council has revealed Aucklanders are prepared to pay more for a house close to a scheduled heritage place and within a special character area.

To ensure the investigation exclusively analysed the impact of heritage and special character, the researchers from the Heritage and Research & Investigation Units accounted for over 300 other non-heritage factors including types of house, zoning, distance to other amenities, the suburb, neighbourhood and the month or year of sale.

Breaking down the statistics, people are willing to pay approximately 5.3 per cent more to live in a Special Character Area (SCA) – a price premium of $50,000 more than Auckland’s average house price. The research also disproved the common perception that people are willing to pay less for a heritage house because of restrictions that may be imposed on additions and alterations of the building.

Although the data revealed there was no price premium for individual heritage houses, there was also no relationship indicating a lower market value for heritage houses – demonstrating that scheduling does not lower the market value of a house in Auckland.

Further research and statistics on the economic and social benefits of heritage will be released during the Auckland Heritage Festival in October this year.

http://ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/articles/news/2018/7/how-much-will-aucklanders-pay-to-live-close-to-a-heritage-area/