The Trusted Advisor – Property Report September 2019

National

Regional NZ continues to dominate the property market with 5 provincial centres – Gisbourne, BOP, Nelson & Bays, Manawatu/Whanganui & Northland leading the way with record average asking prices.
The average NZ asking price is now $685,746
Of the 5 major regions only Wellington had an increase in price and activity there is slowing
Across the country Sept saw new listings at 14.2% lower than last year. Listing numbers are low and contributing to house price increases
The average annual lift in property prices year to date 2019 is running at 2.4% with Dunedin the star @ 2.9%. The worst is CHCH with -.5%
Auckland is starting to show signs of life and we can expect that market to continue lifting in the coming months
Consistently low mortgage rates are assisting buyers into homes
Decent chance we will see a drop to .75% OCR in November together with a loosening of the investor limits at the same time.
Investor lending is soft at the moment and first home buyers are still the most active group nationally
A key factor to keep in mind heading into 2020 is the Reserve Banks proposal for trading banks extra capital holding requirements which may well lead to an increase in lending rates

Marlborough

We had 63 sales totalling $30,234,000 - down 8 sales on Sept 2018. Year to date we are 33 sales down on last year
The median price went up from $439,000 Aug 2019 to $461,000 Sep 2019 mainly on the back of the 20% of sales in the plus $600,000 bracket.
The most sales by suburb in the region was Witherlea with 24% of sales
A persisting lack of listings is proving an issue at the moment. There is an abundance of buyers but not enough property to choose from and it is also holding back those people who want to trade up locally but they have no choice so wont list their property either which is compounding the situation
Some new listings are seeing up to 30 groups through the first open home. Multi offers are usual and great prices are being achieved
There remains continued strong interest for 1 and 2 bedroom properties even if they require redecoration. Many of these are being sold to local investors or first time investors who cant get a decent return from money in the bank
We are also seeing Nelson investors in the Marlborough market as properties over there are reaching up to $150,000 more for the same here.

 
Regards
 
Ian Fyfe
Licenced Sales Specialist rea 2008