How is the market preforming compared to recent years, quite frankly not as good. But what do you judge that by. Is that judged by the volume or by the median price or by the time to sell, or by anything else that the experts say. Its hard to gauge and with all the media attention to Real Estate there is a very mixed perception out there about what eactly the housing market will do. But one thing we can say is it has changed.
According to statistics released by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) recently there were only 4464 sales in April, this was down 45.5% on the previous year. But at the same time the time to sell property in New Zealand has been further pushed right to an average of 44 days where it was only 28 days a year ago. But in New Plymouth the avergae time to sell is 59 days. But in hindsight to this prices have remained steady, with the national median dropping just 1.1% when compared to April 2007.
These figures are really the only thing to go by when we try and assess where our market is heading. The latest newsletter from QV stated that “spring could bring a resergence’. But why would that happen? Well some people say the warmer weather brings more buyer activity which may see a glutton effect in terms of buyers which will increase the sales. But traditionally summer months have more sales volume than winter.
But the way it is now and heading into winter Vendors need to be prepared to be patent. There are a number of things that can be done to bring your property better chances to sell. One is by being realist on the price and getting it right from day one. The times of testing the market are all but gone, buyer activity is the highest in the first few weeks of the marketing as its the new house on the block. If your price is unrealistic you will loose potential interest from buyers. The best way to remidy this is by doing the homework and getting the price right from day one.
But its not bad out there. Overall Sales Volume is way down but prices remain steady. If your a seller right now be patient, stay optimistic and listen to the advise from your local Real Estate Agent.
Keep Warm and Keep Safe
Deon