May Market Comment

REINZ, the most up to date source of real estate data in New Zealand, announced that there were 7,234 dwelling sales in April 2015 down 17.8% compared to March. The national median price was $455,000 for April, a decrease of $20,000 or 4.2% from March.  Excluding the impact of the Auckland region, the national median price was up $3,000.

Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) Chief Executive Colleen Milne says, “Auckland continues to dominate the real estate market in terms of price movements, but we are starting to see some of the smaller regions show improvements in the number of sales being made and price increases.  Regions such as Northland, Hawkes Bay and Central Otago Lakes, which represent 7.5% of national sales, are seeing solid gains in both price and sales volumes. Other regions such as Waikato/Bay of Plenty are seeing volume growth, while Otago and Taranaki are seeing more price growth.”

For the Nelson/Marlborough region the median price fell by $2,000 (-0.6%) compared to March with prices rising 5% in Nelson, but falling 9% in Motueka and 2% in Marlborough/Kaikoura. Compared to March sales volumes fell by 20%, with sales falling 17% in Nelson, 19% in Marlborough/Kaikoura and 25% in Richmond.

REINZ Chief Executive, Colleen Milne noted that “more investors have been coming into the market than first home buyers in recent weeks, although overall numbers are below this time last year.  Open home attendances are also down, although this may be a seasonal factor due to Easter, the school holidays and ANZAC day in April.” The price trend for the region continues to fall, although the sales volume and days to sell trends are now easing.  Overall the trend for the region is easing

For the wider Motueka market April saw a drop in listings and a drop in sales compared to the previous month. This drop is hardly a surprise considering how busy our local market has been over the last couple of quarters.

The median days on market came back to a more expected 75 after last month’s high of 154. With the number of new listings closely matching the number of sales I expect we will see the median days on market come back a bit more in the next month or so.

While the number of sales is back a bit we are still seeing firm interest at most open homes and would expect that the market will remain firm as we move in to the winter.

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