June 2011 - Good Opportunity to Sell

As I wrote last month, it is often a great time to sell a home in winter. Funny how this is starting to bear fruit with the number of sales through our office, Wellington and NZ as a whole on the up. There is currently areasonably significant shortage of listings which has seen a number of competitive situations occurring in the past few weeks. On the whole, the average time a buyer spends in the market looking for a new home or an investment property would be approximately 3-4 months. Buyers get to a certain stage in their buying process of having missed out on one or two purchasing opportunities, before deciding that the next property they like, they will do what they can to secure the property. If your timeframe is to sell a property within the next 6 months, with the shortage of stock currently in the market, low interest rates and the best home affordability in years, now may well be the opportune time to sell and take advantage of this current situation.

Both the QV indices and the REINZ figures show a reasonably steady market, with sales volumes up and
nationwide values reasonably flat.

National property values are now 1.6% lower than the same time last year, and 5.7% below the market peak of late 2007, the data shows. That follows from April's figures, where values in the month were 1.9% lower than the same month a year ago, and 5.8% off the market peak.

Market Comment

Both the QV indices and the REINZ figures show a reasonably steady market, with sales volumes up and nationwide values reasonably flat. National property values are now 1.6% lower than the same time last year, and 5.7% below the market peak of late 2007, the data shows. That follows from April's figures, where values in the month were 1.9% lower than the same month a year ago, and 5.8% off the market peak.

Home Affordability

Houses are at their most affordable levels in seven years, with falling prices, interest rates at record lows and banks more willing to lend, according to a monthly report into affordability. The Roost Home Loan Affordability report shows home loan affordability in May was at its best levels since April 2004. The report measures affordability for individual income earners and households, based on median house prices, interest rates and incomes. Affordability has been improving since December 2009.

Housing Confidence

Housing confidence rose slightly over the three months to April, according to the latest ASB NZ Housing Confidence Survey.

Interest Rates

Signals from the Reserve Bank that it may begin hiking the official cash rate this year will undoubtedly spark a debate among homeowners on whether they should considering keeping their mortgages on a floating rate or fix them at current levels.

Of Interest- Holiday Homes

There are few certainties in the unstable property market - but waterside homes are as close to a sure thing as you can get. Although the number of homes and baches for sale near beaches, lakes and rivers has plummeted, most have held their value better than houses in other areas.

Wellington Commentary

QV’s Residential Price Index for May shows that property values in the Wellington region have decreased by 3.6% over the past year. Values have continued to decline in recent months.