The first school break of the year is around the corner. And while the kids might be buzzing about that, the two-week holiday period traditionally sees a quiet period in some parts of the property market.
So, what position are you in as a buyer or seller during a nationwide school holiday period?
REINZ chief executive Bindi Norwell says when the April school term break falls over Easter and Anzac Day, it creates a fall in the property market.
“Often it also marks a turn in the weather with cooler days and more rain, which, when combined with the ‘holiday effect’, usually results in a lower number of properties sold in April,” she says.
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Despite the lower sales count in April, autumn still proves to be one of the year’s strongest seasons, with March and May making up the numbers, Norwell says.
Ray White agent Ross Hawkins, who markets elite properties in Auckland, says normally school holidays are a good time to create a campaign but not to launch it.
Family homes are less likely to be bought during a school holiday period, he says, because parents would rather spend quality time with their children and head on an overseas trip instead of spending the time house-hunting.
This Easter and school holiday period is likely to be different thanks to the coronavirus, he says.
“Families who would traditionally go overseas will now be staying in the ’hood and spending time at home, and might actually have more time to look at properties.”
During more standard school holiday periods, Hawkins says some house buyers like to beat the rush and find their dream home while everyone else is taking a break, regardless of the season.
Harcourts Queenstown agent Kirsty Sinclair says low school holiday activity doesn’t apply to New Zealand’s prime holiday destination market.
Kiwis from other parts of the country come to Queenstown for school holidays so they’re some of the best times to market a property.
“If you are in Christchurch or Wellington during the school holidays you all disappear to Fiji or somewhere else, and a lot of people end up here in Queenstown.
“Tourism businesses are cranking and there's always a great vibe in town during holiday time, so it’ll actually be beneficial to us to have property up for sale.”
Winter school holidays are a particular boom time for the resort town’s property market as families travel from all over New Zealand and Australia to hit the slopes.
“Winter has traditionally been one of our strongest selling times,” Sinclair says.
The town doesn’t have a shoulder season any more, with different seasons catering for different markets.
“We have such a shortage of stock and depending on what the property is, we have an all-year-round market.”
Investment properties, in particular, do very well, Sinclair says.
