March Market Update

Median house prices firmed slightly and sales volumes lifted across New Zealand during February as the market exited the holiday period, according to the latest figures released on the 13 March 17 by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ), source of the most recent, complete and accurate real estate data in New Zealand.
Two of 12 regions in New Zealand hit new record high median sale prices in February 2017 (Northland and Otago), with the national median price rising to $495,000.

REINZ CEO Bindi Norwell says: “We are seeing a mixed picture across New Zealand. Auckland is mixed: there is something in the market for buyers and sellers. For instance, although there are more houses on the market and median prices are rising, sales volumes were down in February.
“We hear anecdotally that LVRs are having an effect and banks are reducing lending, becoming more selective about who they lend to, what properties they will lend on and the terms. Recent media has noted the lower level of cash incentives being offered by banks, and this ties in with the feedback agents across the country are hearing from their clients.

For the Nelson/Marlborough region the median price rose $52,000 (+13%) compared to February 2016. Compared to February 2016 sales volumes fell 14%, with sales falling 38% in Motueka, 23% in Marlborough/Kaikoura and 17% in Richmond. There was 16 weeks of supply across the region in February, little changed from February 2016

REINZ Chief Executive Officer, Bindi Norwell noted that, “Buyer interest has picked up across the region with increasing competition between investors and first home buyers at the lower end of the market. Overall the level of inventory remains stable, although at a low level.”

For our local Motueka market and surrounds the number of new listings for February were down on the same period last year but did exceed the number of sales. While the number of properties for sale has increased the median days on market have remained fairly static at around the mid 50s with the median price pushing up to $593,750 for the month of February.
At the local level we appear to be running in sync with the national trends. Further increases in property prices coming into the autumn is primarily going to be dependent on continued buyer demand and the availability of finance.

Content and statistics quoted in this article are sourced from REINZ and in-house, while we endeavor to keep the figures as accurate as possible they cannot be guaranteed.