The Christchurch Real Estate Market was alive and well today. Harcourts Grenadier held 18 Auctions today. After all were conducted the results were quite good. 8 properties sold under the hammer, 2 were sold prior and 2 were sold after the property was passed in and it sounds as though a few will be under offer in the next few days. The interesting thing to note is that many of the properties that were been Auctioned today were of the higher end of the market.
This may be good news for the market in the fact it shows that the buyers are still out there and there are still people with money to buy. Sales numbers on previous years are well below what they were so it is still more important than ever to have your property stand out. Targeted, high profile marketing, sound presentation combined with a strong structure and a competitive edge when it comes to the price and you will attract the buyers out there to your property and hopefully the hard work put in will get an offer on the table that if not at an acceptable level you can work with.
The total amount of sales this year has been consistently moving downwards as the economy in New Zealand has been crippled by the global credit crisis. In recent months there has been some relief for us all with interest rates falling, fuel prices falling and tax cuts from the government but these are still not seen to be enough to help some of the struggling families out there as many won’t feel these reductions for many months to come. So the market still has some
The statistics below show the data collected by the REINZ for the Christchurch Central Area (The 4 Avenues) and how much different this year has been to two years ago.
The tables below read: DATE; MEDIAN; TOTAL SALES; DAYS ON MARKET
|
May 2008 |
$322,500.00 |
57 |
52 |
|
|
Jun 2008 |
$357,500.00 |
42 |
47 |
|
|
Jul 2008 |
$342,500.00 |
40 |
57 |
|
|
Aug 2008 |
$334,950.00 |
43 |
57 |
|
|
Sep 2008 |
$332,250.00 |
34 |
59 |
|
|
Oct 2008 |
$310,000.00 |
33 |
47 |
|
|
Nov 2008 |
$310,000.00 |
35 |
45 |
Now Compare this for the same period 2 years ago.
|
May 2006 |
$315,000.00 |
86 |
42 |
|
Jun 2006 |
$319,000.00 |
82 |
41 |
|
Jul 2006 |
$298,750.00 |
92 |
41 |
|
Aug 2006 |
$307,000.00 |
84 |
53 |
|
Sep 2006 |
$300,000.00 |
77 |
53 |
|
Oct 2006 |
$327,000.00 |
82 |
38 |
|
Nov 2006 |
$300,000.00 |
91 |
40 |
|
Dec 2006 |
$355,000.00 |
93 |
43 |
You can see quite clearly that the sales volume is below half of what it was two years ago for the exact same area. This is why it is so important to do all the things I mentioned above. The fact of reality is that there are more listings than last year and half the sales. Dont be the one sitting on the market and not selling. Be one of the ones who do sell. It is hard to look at the price from these graphs and compare it in this cross section as it is only a small sample of the market and too much influencial data can skew the data. But below is a graph of the median price for this Christchurch Central (4 Avenues) area. The other thing is the sales stats from the REINZ only show medium not average so many influencing factors can skew the graph over each month.
The market is not completely dead, as I said right at the start of this post there are still properties selling and today we saw a number sell under the hammer which just hasnt been heppening to that extent on a consistent basis for a while now. The feeling I get is buyers are ready to buy but are waiting for that opportunity that they consider a good buy. Most buyers I talk to out there say there is still a lot of room for the market to move. And unfortunately when your in a buyers market these are the words that are going to ring true in many cases. The sales volume for New Zealand in November 2008 were 4297 sales. The next lowest was in August 2008 with 4220. But previous to this years shocking sales volume drop the lowest sales in any given month was a massive 16 years ago when in January 1992 there were 4,427 sales.
Buyers are holding tight, but are still buying in other ways. Its a funny market, one none of us can predict.
There are people out there that can see good buys but so many more are saying they will get better and are waiting.
These are interesting statistics Deon,thanks for providing them. What is classed as the higher end of the market in Christchurch central?
Sharon, the top of the market is approx $700,000+
5 of the 8 were of this value.