Media Release
Time to spring into action: Harcourts CEO
15 September 2008: Reporting a 44-month low in new listings, Harcourts New Zealand CEO Bryan Thomson says that after
months of hesitating it is time for sellers and buyers to act.
Instead of continuing to “hold their breath” as they appeared to do again last month, Mr Thomson says sellers and buyers
need to be proactive now in order to achieve success in spring, which given a range of favourable factors is promising
to be a more positive period for the New Zealand real estate market.
Commenting in the latest Harcourts MarketWatch newsletter Mr Thomson says the group’s August statistics showed sellers
remained hesitant about putting their properties on the market, with the amount of exclusive listings coming forward
being the lowest since December 2004.
“Couple this with the number of total properties on hand falling for the fourth month in a row and written sales staying
at similar levels for the last five months and you’re left with a situation where buyers are struggling to identify and
secure what they want,” he says.
“Add in interest rates cuts both here and internationally, the falling Kiwi dollar making investment in property in New
Zealand even more attractive and moves by the US Government that have improved the outlook for the American economy and
for global finance markets and we have a recipe that suggests more positive times ahead in the domestic real estate
market.”
Mr Thomson says given all of this it’s high time sellers and buyers took action as “whatever side of the equation people
are on, the factors that influence our property market all point towards the first movers being the most successful”.
Sellers who want to snatch the best of the spring buyer interest should be contacting their Sales Consultant now to get
advice on how to get their property to stand out from the crowd of stale listings that have languished on the market
over winter, he says. Buyers should also be upping their efforts – making sure they are working closely with sales
consultants, getting email alerts from the major property web sites and re-looking at existing listings “as sellers’
expectations may now be more in line with the market”.
ends