Is Auckland back in business?
After months of sluggish activity in the middle to top end of the city's property market, there are signs that buyers are making big purchases again.
Real estate agents in some of the city’s top suburbs say that attractive bank rates and a traditional spring lift have resulted in increased numbers at open homes and strong bidding action at auctions.
Bayleys sales agent Chris Batchelor says homes in Ponsonby are “very hot” right now.
Start your property search
“In the greater Ponsonby area, we are getting huge numbers of buyers coming to the open homes,” he says. “They are all qualified and well-educated with the market.”
11 John St villa in Ponsonby had a pre-auction offer and was sold for $1.58m to a different bidder.
That means that they are making decisions quickly, putting in pre-auction offers and battling hard in the last few auctions, he says.
A two-bedroom villa in Ponsonby marketed by Batchelor had a pre-auction offer of $1.5m and was sold under the hammer for $1.58m to a different bidder.
“Prices are going beyond vendor expectations. The general feel amongst buyers and agents is very positive,” he says.
He believes the spring sunshine and low mortgage rates are responsible for the changing mood in the market.
“As the weather starts getting better, it changes everyone's mood but also the bank rates are coming back so money has never been cheaper.”
Ray White Remuera agent Steen Nielsen, who sells home around $5 million mark, says more than 100 people showed up at a recent open home for a property he was marketing.
“In the first three months of the year it was a matter of good week or bad week but now in the last several months it’s been very busy.”
Nielsen says his properties are selling for well over the reserved price and cites the high clearance rate for auctions in the Ray White Remuera office - it's sitting at 83 percent - as evidence the market is picking up again.
Ray White Titirangi agent Lynn Lacy-Hauck the market is also hot for entry level properties.
On the day she put up the listing for 1970s property on Tanekaha Rd, her phone went off.
“I haven’t had a property that's gone off like that for several years,” she says. “I had 130 people come to the first week of an open home, with five written offers and five verbal offers. I sold it for $200,000 more than I appraised it for.”
Lacy-Hauck says another property she is marketing had a pre-auction offer.
“The first-home buyer market is buzzing...it’s just nutty,” she laughs.
“When people are competing and driving pricing at the lower end of the market, there's a knock-on effect upwards. But there's other things going on in the world economy and it’s hard to predict.”
Barfoot & Thompson West Harbour branch manager Mark van Lent has also seen a pick-up in activity. His branch has had multiple offers on entry-level homes, with people deciding to stop waiting and jump in.
“The overall market is quite patchy but well-presented and reasonably-priced properties are in strong demand,” van Lent says.
Ray White city apartments agent Steve King, who is mainly working on development projects, says the market has been hot for the past five weeks.
“Six months ago, was the worst market I have ever experienced in the six-year period and it was for quite a long time. Now it switched back on.”
