New Zealand’s Housing Markets

  • Strong demand for housing, extreme shortage of listings, strong interest from overseas buyers inc. expats, some buying sight unseen. Strong sales in the high-end bracket $3 to $6m.
  • Swamped with buyer enquiry. Everyone seems to be clambering to get a slice of the action. Bare land, sections, new builds existing houses. All attracting huge buyer interest.
  • Software improvements are making deals quicker & easier. More information available. Prices still rising. Plenty of FOMO.
  • Many townhouses being built with low maintenance in handy location.
  • Continuation of market from December. Listing numbers are very low with new property coming to market and being sought- after by multiple buyers. With the current fundamentals of low interest rates and people arriving back in NZ, along with the shortage of homes, we see plenty of legs in the market for the foreseeable future.
  • Christchurch market, hot with dramatic market conditions especially at the entry level 1st home buyers, there is some ‘trickle-up’ but properties in the $800,000 to $1,400,000 are slightly slow in comparison. Possibly more caution with this group being professionals and business owners?
  • I am in residential property in the lakes area around Rotorua. Demand has been stronger over this summer for lake properties than in the last 5 years I’ve been working in this area. Challenge is in getting listings to meet demand. Prices are up dramatically even for leasehold properties which have at times struggled to get any interest from the market.
  • There is vendor apathy…not signing Agency Agreement in a timely fashion…dragging out process & they lose their vigour/drive to go to market. (Then they were not real vendor’s in the first place). Potential vendors want to sell but need a property to buy before moving, not enough stock in desirable areas of Auckland. Anything from $1.2M to $1.3M; Vendor expectations – they’ve seen the house on their street sell before Christmas 2020 for a ridiculous amount & now want the same money. Competition is still fierce amongst some buyers in the market. Anecdote: a property in Remuera (Seascape Rd) I am told, had 100 groups through in the first week of open homes (at least 200 bodies – came through to view property).
  • Few people are listing, strong demand – these are second homes in the main. There is a lot of confidence and desire to invest in NZ real estate especially in the South Island from what I’m told by prospective buyers.
  • There is a shortage of stock/listings.
  • Crazy buying and limited stock.
  • Strong FOMO amongst buyers, demand is outstripping supply. There is real confidence in the marketplace. Some owners late last year expecting more than the market have are now easing to allow market to dictate.
  • There is a lack of properties for sale with a high level of unsatisfied buyer demand.
  • Properties are selling fast & for great prices – FOMO. Not enough stock.
  • There is a lack of listings.
  • Even more buyers, but even fewer sellers!
  • Simply lack of stock. There are no other significant frustrations.
  • Property valuation…The market is continuing to increase with demand continuing to outstrip supply. Will be interesting to see now that Auckland is on the move again if we continue to see out of town buyers looking to the regions.
  • High buyer demand low stock numbers.
  • Problems are the continuous trend of escalating price of property due to lack of choice for the consumer, and the continuous decline of new listings coming to the market – potential vendors are concerned about selling and then having nothing to buy due to lack of stock.
  • Lack of listings, loads of buyers, very frustrated first home buyers missing out, very high prices being paid.
  • Housing affordability and potential government meddling and legislation. Availability of buildable land and low property listings combined with low deposit buyers less than 20% deposit finding harder to secure properties.

By Chas Gunaratne