Some softening of prices not surprising this winter

Century 21 New Zealand

Wednesday, 5 August 2015

Some softening of prices not surprising this winter says real estate boss

Century 21 New Zealand’s National Manager Geoff Barnett says he’s not surprised to hear that the median sales price this winter may be levelling out for some.

Mr Barnett points to many people now delaying their purchases hoping to see further decreases in interest rates and the impact of the Responsible Lending Code which came into effect on 6 June.

“Since the code came in it’s certainly getting harder for many people to borrow or bridge huge sums of money. And in fact we’re also experiencing many people holding back and seeing what the Reserve Bank delivers on 10 September and 29 October as far as the Official Cash Rate announcements go. The smart money of course being on the fact that mortgage rates will probably fall further in the third quarter,” he says

“Rest assured we’re still getting plenty of buyer enquiries and people through our open homes this winter and in fact for many Century 21 offices this has been their busiest winter in a long time.

“However buyers are becoming a little more circumspect, with many young Auckland City homebuyers now actively looking in the far south, west and north of the region even if it does mean a bit more travel. For more and more people a longer commute is the new reality of home ownership.”

Yesterday saw the release of the latest QV House Price Index that shows the Auckland market has increased 18.8% in value regionwide over the past year.

“With the average value in the old Auckland City and North Shore city council areas now over $1 million, we’re seeing the likes of Manurewa, Papakura and Pukekohe taking off as more people start to look south for example to buy more affordable homes.

“While there has been plenty of gains in Auckland overall in the past year, I’m not surprised to learn that some other agents are experiencing a slight softening as far as the median house price goes this winter. For many borrowers the money is now a bit harder to get, while others are waiting to see what happens to interest rates,” says Mr Barnett.

www.century21.co.nz

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