Houses in Ashburton were changing hands in greater numbers and in faster time for the month of August than any other month this year. But the median house sale price was down from $264,500 to $241,000 according to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand’s figures.
The other market commentator Quotable Value measures prices as an average over three months. It put the district’s property market in a better light, giving a three-month average sale price of $268,390 which was a 2.3per cent growth over July’s average.
To say that it is a buyers or sellers market at the moment who can be really sure, however, what I do know is that the houses on the market that are well presented and priced accordingly are flying of the proverbial shelf. We have sellers that are getting close or better than what they expected for their properties and the buyers are happy with their purchasers. So to me it is currently a WIN WIN market for seller and buyer.
There was a fantastic initiative held in the Ashburton District over the weekend that being the Great Living Legends Muck-In. This is a nationwide Muck-In that aims to plant 85,000 native trees across the country at the same time celebrating New Zealand’s Rugby Legends.
Ashburton’s part in the plan was to plant 2,500 native trees at the Harris Scientific Reserve the guest of honour being our very own ex-All Black Jock Ross.
Close to 200 people showed up on the day with spades and gloves in hand ready to work, which goes to show that the good old country town community spirit is still alive and kicking, at least in Ashburton.
Proof that many hands make light work was evident with the planting being completed by lunch time, after which a sausage sizzle was held and everyone gathered around for a chat.
All in all it was a good family day out, kids got to meet a Living Legend at the same time as learning about conservation efforts going on around Ashburton and the Ashburton District which will benefit from the work completed for years to come.
Using the data he has gathered from his website for July he paints excellent picture of the current market.
He has noted that the number of new listings on the site is down along with the overall listing numbers on the site.
“The level of new listings coming onto the market in July fell again to 8,966. This represented a 15% year-on-year decline but a marginal 1% seasonally adjusted rise from June”.
At the same time interest from buyers is up and time to sell is shortening, all signs of a developing sellers market. what is interesting and Alistair mentions in his clip is how although it is a sellers market the overall asking prices have edged down not up as you might expect in a sellers market, he suspects the lower asking prices and low interest rates are what might be driving this increased activity.
I’m sure you will have been following the Reserve Bank Governor’s comments and he’s on record as saying while he must ensure the country doesn’t overspend thus driving inflation….he is firm of the view that he will not increase interest rates until the economy is moving ahead again and he doesn’t see that as a likelihood until well into 2012.
At the same time, economist, Rodney Dickens has come out suggesting the whole approach to interest rate management of the Reserve Bank is failed! Yes, he believes a stable approach with semi-fixed OCR rates delivering market rates of around 6% would allow the entire banking community and the New Zealand commercial and private communities to plan medium to long term…..something this country has not been able to deliver since the dollar was floated.
Goodness! Management! Long term planning! Stability! What an interesting
set of options!
As we head into a belated mid-winter period when history says the real estate market should be slowing it’s intriguing to note the opposite! Yes, across the country my colleagues are reporting increased sales compared with earlierthis year and last year same time and competition for better presented properties.
I know I’ve said it before but I make no apologies; it’s the tidy, clean, stylish and well priced properties that are attracting the interest and the better ones are being fought over by several buyers. Those top properties in each suburb,size or price sector are attracting all the interest while those that present less well are being left well alone, marooned on the market for months.
We also note, again across the country, that first home buyers and investors are battling over lower priced options.
Its official the www.visionofhumanity.org website has for the second year in a row named New Zealand as the most peaceful country on Earth.
The Vision of Humanity people use 23 indicators in their GPI (Global Peace Index) to help ascertain which countries are the most peaceful.
to quote their website
The Global Peace Index is a project of the Institute for Economics and Peace. It represents a ground-breaking milestone in the study of peace. It is the first time that an Index has been created that ranks the nations of the world by their peacefulness and identifies some of the drivers of peace.
Most people understand the absence of violence as an indicator of peace. This definition also allows for the measuring of peacefulness within, as well as between, nations. The GPI ranks Independent countries by their ‘absence of violence’ using metrics that combine both internal and external factors…..more
That New Zealand has won this again of course comes as no surprise to those that live here, Well to those living on the mainland at least and in particular those living in Ashburton. So if you ever needed a reason for immigrating to this part of the world then this reason is a goodie.
Our friends across the Tasman did not fare as well coming in at 19th on the GPI list, and the United States at 85 must have some there re-thinking the benefits of their gun laws.
Below is a video that explains the GPI and how it came about.
Ok, Ok I’m not really a movie star but I have just finished my first ever video ad for my website let me know what you think. ( Be gentle on me it is my first one )
I have also tried to use video to promote properties themselves, here are a couple of recent listings that have had videos made to show case the properties.
Link Property Videos
Property videos seem to be quite a hit over seas and more and more are using them here in NZ, It would be interesting to hear from any buyers out there viewing my blog, Do you watch the videos of properties you are interested in? Do you see a added benefit to you when you see a listing has a video attached.
Or if you are another agent/salesperson, have you used video to promote yourself or your properties? do you believe it has increased buyer enquiry on your clients properties?
I am of the mind that anything that I can use to showcase my clients properties is a good thing, especially if it helps get it in front of buyers, what’s your thoughts?
Auction, Tender, Fixed Price, No Price, Private Treaty, Buyer enquiry over, These are just some of the different ways your property can be marketed. Your Agent/salesperson should have a recommendation for how they think your property should be marketed.
Be aware that in times when profits are down that some will push for Auctions, primarily for the vendor funding that is often charged up front on Auction properties.
Auctions can work but do not suit all properties at all times, be sure if auction is recommended that it is because your property suits this method of sale and ask before signing why they think your property will sell at auction.
If the recommendation is to market at no price ask why, ask yourself when you are looking for a new property how much time do you spend on the properties with no price ? Do you ring the agent to find out the price, most don’t. There are times when you might advertise a property with no price but it should be part of a strategy that your agent can explain.
In all cases regardless of which method the salesperson recommends, they should be able to explain to you why they have chosen that particular method, and if not ask why not.
Anyone looking through the Ashburton Guardian on a Friday of late would have noticed that the Real Estate pages are looking very colourful recently. Colour is essential when advertising a property in print so pick a company that advertises your property in colour (and not just when the listings are light, but all the time
Alistair Helm would shoot me if I didn’t mention here that the company you pick to sell your home MUST have a good web presence and I agree with him, The easiest way to find out if a company is well represented on the web is our good friend GOOGLE.
If you Google Ashburton real estate, Ashburton property or any other term you think a prospective buyer might google while looking for a property, how does the company fare here, make sure the company you pick has a strong presence on the web, on the first page of the search result.
With over 80% of all property buyers starting their search for a new property on the web, the company you pick must advertise your property on the web on sites that get good traffic.
The companies property for sale signs must be of good quality, and erected well. You want people driving past to be able to see that the property is for sale and who to call about the property. A tattered old sign erected out of level on rickety old tomato stakes draws attention for all the wrong reasons and will draw attention away from the property. There is a sign I pass regularly, I won’t mention which opposition company the sign belongs to, but it has been erected out of level on rickety old stakes with the jaggered edges sticking out, the sign itself is way past its used by date.
I shake my head everytime I go past it, and it popped into my mind when writting this part of the article as a good ”Don’t Do” example.
I look to see if it has been fixed everytime I drive past it , and to date it is still there. My point here is that I could not tell you one thing about the property the sign is on, my eye is drawn to the shocking sign for my whole trip past the property.
The Sale sign works like a 24 hour salesperson on site, it should be good.
Make sure that the agent you pick has a plan for marketing your property that will put it in front of as many buyers as possible. In a market where listings are in short supply this is essential to generate the most interest. The aim is not to find 1 buyer but several buyers, this is when the high prices can be achieved.
(quick update on the shocking sign, I drove pass the property yesterday to see if it is still there and low and behold a new company now has the property for a listing and they used the same old jaggerdy stakes and it still looks like a train wreck of a sign, …cringe..).
What has been developing in NZ recently is a nation wide shortage of Real Estate stock, and Ashburton has not been immune to this trend. The stock that is around is selling, and sales numbers are back up to Ok levels but the stock is getting low.
A Bi-Product of this shortage is a more agressive approach to gaining listings by the towns Real Estate agents. In this type of market listings are the key to a real estate sales persons success, so I thought it timely to do an article on what I believe to be the 3 things you NEED to watch out for when searching for a salesperson/company to sell your home in this market.
#1
Do NOT let your listing be bought
This is the most quoted “Must Not Do” out there, and for very good reason. A salesperson cannot sell a property they don’t have on there books. In a market with low stock numbers this issue becomes more prevalent as more and more salespeople compete for the limited listings.
It is the simpilist thing in the world for someone to spit out a high figure, it is something else to sell at that figure. What does tend to happen when listings are light is a high price is quoted the property listed and then the agents time is then spent conditioning you down to the market price.
A tremendous amount of damage can be done to a property by overpricing or underpricing it at the start of its marketing campaign, If marketed right a property attracts the most buyer enquiry in the first 4 weeks of its campaign so it is crucial that the salesperson you entrust to sell your home has given this a great deal of thought, they should be able to show you comparative sales figures to justify their appraisal.
Ask the question “How did you come up with that price” and listen to the answer, it should not be a glib “that’s what 3 bedder’s in this area are selling for, the answer should be quoting addresses and prices actually received with recent sales and these recent sales need to be of comparable properties in land size condition, bedrooms, and presentation. Any well equipped Real Estate office has access to this data and a good sales person should have plenty of their own recent sales they can quote, if not why not?
Do NOT entrust the pricing of your home to someone who does not have access to this or chooses to ignore this valuable tool/information by buying your listing.
The number one reason a house does not sell is PRICE, (even a broken house will sell if priced right)
So the best and biggest tip I can give anyone selling their home is..
and in particular those living in Ashburton. So if you ever needed a reason for immigrating to this part of the world then this reason is a goodie.![CropperCapture[4]](http://unconditional.co.nz/ashburton/files/2010/08/CropperCapture4.jpg)
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