Market Comment September 2018

Warmer activity in Winter means the market can swing into Spring – Ray White City Apartments

With winter (almost) in our wake, we are really encouraged by the positive momentum and activity the Auckland city apartment market experienced throughout the traditionally quieter months. And, as always, our auction room is a good indicator of what’s happening out there.

As more properties are put up for auction, we maintain our success rate of more than 85%. And sellers going through the process are experiencing a lift in confidence as the demand and competition from buyers in both the investment and owner-occupier sectors remain solid.

This activity puts us in good stead as we move forward into the busier spring months. Having said that, our team continue to work around the clock to make sure we are seamlessly bridging the gap between buyers’ and sellers’ expectations and achieving the very best outcome for everyone involved.

On the rental front, activity has eased throughout August, and owners of older or dated apartments are starting to feel the pressure as tenants favour the brand-new offerings available. The message is clear for these owners: they must invest and refurbish the wear and tear to maintain reasonable returns and remain an option in tenants’ minds.

If you need expert advice on how to find your way around Auckland’s apartment market, give us a call today. Whatever stage you’re at, we can help you make your best move, whether you’re looking to buy, sell or invest.

The housing market remains on its steady course as new listings start to rise as we head into spring – interest.co.nz

The housing market appears to be bouncing back from its winter lows with a 16.4% jump in new listings on Realestate.co.nz in August. The property website listed 8,739 additional properties for sale in August compared with 7,508 in July, suggesting the market bottomed out in July and vendors are starting to gear up for the usual spring surge.

August’s new listing figures were almost unchanged from August last year when the website attracted 8,729 new listings, suggesting the market could be holding a steady course and following normal seasonal trends.

The spring bounce was particularly strong in the main centres with August’s new listings in the Wellington region up 26.6% compared to July, followed by Auckland up 22.7% and Canterbury up 17.8%.

Where house prices soar – Auckland dominates NZ’s top 100 suburbs for property gains – stuff.co.nz

Ninety-two of New Zealand’s top suburbs for property value growth since the last housing market peak are in Auckland, according to a property data company. CoreLogic has looked at the growth rates of property prices throughout the country since November 2007, just before the global financial crisis. Auckland dominated, with the first non-Auckland suburb being Kelvin Heights in Queenstown in 93rd position.

CoreLogic research analyst Kelvin Davidson said that across the country, median house values nationally had grown 63 per cent, hitting $673,797. But the top performers had actually grown at more than twice that rate, and every suburb in Auckland’s top 50 saw prices more than double.

CoreLogic analyst Kelvin Davidson said key factors in Auckland’s growth had been rampant population growth, low construction levels, and greater access to mortgage finance. But “when looking at Auckland, you also have to note the abrupt slowdown in the aftermath of the third round of LVR restrictions in October 2016,” he said.

That placed a requirement on investors to have a 40 per cent deposit and apart from Parakai, Oneroa and Wai O Taiki Bay, property price growth in Auckland has been largely flat.  Values had moved within a tight range of less than 5 per cent to 5 per cent since.

New Zealanders selling their homes enjoyed $3.5bn in re-sale gains last quarter – Corelogic.co.nz

This, from the latest CoreLogic Pain & Gain Report, an analysis of homes resold over the June

Quarter (between 1 April 2018 and 30 June 2018). The report compares the most recent sale price to the home’s previous sale price, determining whether the property resold at a gross profit or gross loss. It provides a proxy for the performance of the housing market and highlights the magnitude of profit or loss the typical seller of a home makes in those regions analysed.

Apartment re-sales are holding steady, with 87.00% realising a gross profit in Q2, a good result historically, and consistent with the large rises in values seen over the past five years. Houses continue to outperform, with a gross profit result of 96.5%. The gap between apartments and houses remains larger than it has been for about three years, indicating that any market fatigue is more of a factor in the apartment segment, perhaps where owners’ approach is more financially-driven, so are prepared to exit as soon as the sums don’t add up.

The total gains on house resales in Q2 2018 were $3.2bn, with a median gross profit of $180,000. For apartments, resellers banked total gains of $74.7m, with a median of a touch less than $137,000.

Median losses on apartments ($26,000) in Q2 were slightly higher than that for houses ($20,000), while total losses for the two segments were $2.1m and $18.4m respectively.