Market Opinion
Market Comment September/October
Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) reported a strong level of sales for August up 21% compared to last year and 264 sales higher than for July 2011. The national median house price was also up 2.9% to $355,000. “The tight supply of listings across the country is the key feature of the market currently. With the arrival of spring listings are showing signs of increase, but the impact of the Rugby World Cup and the General Election soon after makes it difficult to predict how the market will respond,” said REINZ Chief Executive Helen O’Sullivan. “The improvement in volumes over the past few months is a positive sign, however prices remain essentially steady. One interesting aspect of the market is how well informed buyers appear to be and how focused they are on buying at what they see as their level.
Nelson/Marlborough recorded a slight fall in sales compared to July, this weakness was in the Marlborough/Kaikoura area, with the Nelson region reporting growth.
Interest rate sentiment appears to range from stable to soft, while the long term outlook is for rates to climb, the news today (20 Sept) reported a small drop in floating rates.
Locally we had a small drop in Motueka sales numbers from 23 in July to 15 in August. However the average days on market dropped from 190 to 167 and the average sale price increase from 103% to 105% of the 2008 capital value, both these figures indicate increasing buyer interest.
Statistics quoted in this article are sourced in-house and from REINZ, while we endeavour to keep the figures as accurate as possible they cannot be guaranteed.