Entry-level Hamilton houses are dipping below half a million dollars with two- and three-bedroom homes on full sections recently selling for hundreds of thousand of dollars below their rateable value.
A two-bedroom, one-bathroom 1920s do-up on a 776sqm section on Marshall Street in Fairfield sold earlier this month for $440,000 - $260,0000 below its 2021 RV, and a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home on 966sqm on Southsea Crescent in Silverdale sold for $430,000 at the end of last year - $330,000 less than its RV.
The cheapest Hamilton property on a freehold site was a 1950s cottage on Pinfold Avenue, which Ray White Hamilton sold for $380,000 in October - $150,000 below its RV, OneRoof Valocity records show.
There are currently 35 houses listed for sale for under $500,000 in Hamilton City including a four-bedroom home at 33B Vernall Street, in Nawton, which is described in its listing as a “bargain” for $499,000.
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Last year, 94 residential dwellings sold for under $500,000 in Hamilton, REINZ data shows, and more of those cheaper properties have already sold this year.
Hamilton real estate bosses say while the price drops are not unique to the low-end of the market and is being felt across all property types, it does mean people are snapping up houses for at least $100,000 less than what they would have paid at the peak of the market.
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Ray White Hamilton principal Mark Keesom has sold several properties in the $400,000 price range in the past two to three months and said houses in that price range are either a bit smaller, need a bit of work, on a cross-lease section or in a less desirable area.
A renovated two-bedroom cross-lease property on Rawlings Street in Bader sold for $479,000 in December and Keesom said this was a good purchase for someone.
Although there is not a huge number of properties out there in that price range they are out there, he said.
Lodge managing director Jeremy O’Rourke said being able to pick up a home for under $500,000 shows that Hamilton is still a value market and is attracting first-home buyers.
A four-bedroom home at 33B Vernall Street, in Nawton, has a $499,000 price tag. Photo / Supplied
This one-bedroom home on a 436sqm section on Pinfold Avenue, in Hamilton East, was pitched at first-home buyers. Photo / Supplied
“Most of those properties will have work to do on them and so are great opportunities for first-home buyers to get in there and roll up their sleeves and tidy up a property or improve it. There’s a sector of investors who look for those sorts of properties as well to add value to them.”
In the past few weeks his agency has seen a 50% increase in the number of people attending open homes and O’Rourke believes this is because people are recognising the market has come back and want to buy while they can.
“And when the market comes back that far, all of a sudden people who thought they were a year or two away from having the deposit to get into a property have found they’ve got the deposit and they want to secure it. “
A three-bedroom do-up on a 620sqm on Collins Road sold for $505,000 in December and, O’Rourke said, would have fetched more than $600,000 a year ago.
The vendors of this two-bedroom home on Rawlings Street, in Bader, were determined to sell. Photo / Supplied
A three-bedroom 1970s home on Collins Road, in Melville, recently sold for $505,000. Photo / Supplied
“There’s opportunity there and that’s a good example of somebody who might be a first-home buyer jumping in and looking to improve it particularly if they are handy, a builder, or someone like that.”
Harcourts Hamilton managing director Campbell Scott said prices have definitely come back across all property types and he believes the biggest drop has already happened.
A lot more houses are selling in the $500,000 price range, while those in the $400,000s are less common, he said.
However, Scott said people are still having to pay around mid-$600,000s for an entry-level family home in family-friendly Hamilton suburbs.
“If you are getting into your 1970s Dinsdale, Pukete kind of suburbs, I think you are probably $650,000 up.
“You are getting properties below that, but they are not freehold family home kind of stuff – they are duplex properties, apartments and things like that.”
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