Whether it’s a renovated cottage with a white picket fence on the market for enquiries over $250,000 or a brand spanking new four-bedroom $1m-plus spec home, Gore’s residential market is tracking along well, says Graham Maxwell, agent and owner of First National.
The small Southland town has seen the normal winter slowdown but started picking up this month with the market largely business as usual.
While the housing market nationally has fallen, Gore is not seeing price falls as yet, Maxwell says.
“Even the REINZ stats showed us over the last three months we went from about a 12 per cent average increase for the last 12 months but only a three percent increase for the last three months and I am still seeing that.
Start your property search
“I feel that we're holding values if not slightly above. We've not seen sales so far that have undershot where we expected it.”
There are still multi offers for properties, although the number of people involved in a multi offer has pulled back from four or five per property in recent times to only around two now, Maxwell says.
But interest from outside Gore is still strong, with people ringing from the likes of Christchurch, Tauranga and Auckland.
“When we put the properties up I would say 50 per cent of the inquiry is from outside the province.
“You've still got major industries like Mataura Valley Milk and that sort of stuff. They've always got new staff and people coming to town so you do see a wee bit of that.”
Compared to much of the country, prices in Gore and surrounds are super cheap – the little cottage has a look that would be right at home in Auckland’s trendy Ponsonby suburb, but its $250,000-plus price tag wouldn’t even cover the deposit for some Auckland villas.
Gore’s average sale price has more than doubled in the last five to six years. Photo / Mark Mitchell
But Gore’s average sale price is only in the early $400,000s - and that is more than it used to be, Maxwell points out.
“In 2016 our average sale price was $167,000 so we have lifted, or more than doubled since but we're still seen as cheap and affordable.”
Stock under $300,000 generally requires some work but the $300,000 to late $400,000 price range generally represents good solid homes with some perhaps just needing a bit of updating.
People like Gore because it's an hour or so from everywhere, Maxwell says, including Queenstown, Dunedin and Te Anau, plus it’s safe and flat which attracts retirees.
“Some of that out -of-town interest, where they’re selling in Tauranga for $1.1m or $1.2m, they can then buy down here for $400,000 or $500,000 and have a nest egg to maintain their lifestyle.”
There’s also employment as Gore is a rural support town so there are a lot of businesses which support farming.
There is also variety in terms of residential buying, Maxwell says.
The vendor of the “chocolate box” cottage First National is selling in Gorton St bought it to renovate so while the footprint of the home is small the work is recent.
Alternately, Maxwell thinks the $1.35m home at 5 Seymour St is getting a lot of interest because it is already built and finished to a high standard whereas buying a section and then building could take two years.
“It’s suiting that retired farmer type scenario or executive coming to town, they can afford that,” he says.
Kylie Anderson, sales manager from Harcourts, agrees prices are still holding in Gore but says properties are taking longer to sell.
A four-bedroom luxury new-build home for sale at 5 Seymour Street, in Gore. Photo / Supplied
“The sales have tapered but the dollar value I haven't seen go down so it is holding its own in the marketplace.
“The big thing we've got to get across to our clients is hey, it's not a one-to-two-week campaign any more, we're back to the old days where it could take up to three months to sell.”
There is still good interest in properties, however, with one in Ruia Street, being listed for over $1m, getting offers within days.
Anderson says the market has changed a lot from 15 or years ago – she remembers selling sections in nearby Mataura, a little rural town about 10 minutes drive from Gore, for $3000.
“A section in Mataura you're paying now $50,000 to $70,000.”
First home buyers are jumping into the Mataura market because it’s cheaper to get into than Gore, she says.
“In Gore, to get something that's relatively nice, it doesn't have to be flash, but tidy, you could be paying up to that $400,000.
“In Mataura, you used to be able to buy houses for $15,000 20 years ago and now they're creeping up.
“The average price in Mataura now is probably around $280,000, $300,000, and the nice ones where they’ve done the kitchens, bathrooms and given it that total make over you’re up to the $400,000s now.”
- Click here to see more properties for sale in Gore
