North Wellington Real Estate

North Wellington Property Market update March 2010

The House Market in North Wellington

Click on the graphs for larger view

The average sale price rebounded to just under the $500k mark after a drop in January. This drop may have indicated sales in the group of homes that were on the market prior to xmas and failed to sell. The lack of fresh homes coming into the market began to place upward pressure on prices again during February. This upward pressure has continued into early March in North Wellington.

The time to sell the average home in North Wellington has fallen sharply from a spike of 38 days in January back to a time frame closer to three weeks (23 days). There has been an influx of new listings into the market place during February and continues into early March but anecdotal evidence suggests that there is still a lack of listings on the market in this area.

The turnover or number of homes sold for the month of February hit an 18 month high at 79 confirmed sales. Driving around the Northern Suburbs there are plenty of sold signs up and feedback from active buyers suggests that well presented listings that tick all the common sense boxes are moving fast.

The Rental Market in North Wellington

Two bedroom rental accommodation is showing signs of pushing up slightly but three bedroom average rents have plateaued and are sitting under the $400 per week psychological benchmark. In the 4 bedroom home rental market, rents have eased by about $20 per week after steadily rising during the preceding 4-6 months.

Average Rents by Suburb

Info in the graphs has been gleaned from the REINZ monthly sales data and tenancy services rent data. While I have attempted to be as accurate as possible, I cannot vouch for any of the information represented and , therefore, won’t take any responsibility for any inaccuracies.

Disclaimer, copyright and use of Market rent data

March 12 2010 | General Real Estate and North Wgtn House Market Trends | No Comments »

Does sex sell?

My beer poll is slowly filling out as people answer the question I have posed “What is the most important deciding factor when choosing a real estate agent to market your home?”

I am interested in the fact that there are two votes next to “agent is good looking”. Though I am not sure whether these answers were placed as a joke or not, it did get me thinking.

When I first started my career in real estate as a sprightly and wholesome young man of 28 I was coached by the lady who had offered me the job in the first place. My sales manager at the time was a VERY experienced and successful agent in her 60′s and she mothered the team like a Brothel madam. This is the only way I can describe her. The comment that “there is a little sex in every deal” used to fall from her lips on a regular basis.

When touting for business, she often orchestrated the appraisal visits and took certain staff members with her to aid her success depending on who the end client was. I was the young buck who she took along when the potential homeseller was a woman. We also had a lovely vibrant red headed woman with a huge bosom who she used to take along to meetings with male clients, especially older male clients. We were there as “fascinators” to look pretty, not talk,  and give her an edge for gaining the business.

Though I have never personally gone in for this approach myself, I have certainly brushed shoulders with people in the real estate industry who have done very well by using their looks to gain business. If we gave it some thought, we could all probably name someone in the industry who stands out in such a way. Where the average Jo or Josephine has to get through by hard graft, these faeries of light and beauty seem to be able to swan in and take more than their fair share of the property selling pile. A pearly smile is often enough to get the listing signed.

There is definitely something to be said for having the x factor. Having met a few industry power brokers, there is something about them that makes all eyes furtively glance at them when they enter the room, and the room I am talking about is a room full of their industry peers. You have never seen a harder eyed bunch than a room full of real estate agents, so to get them interested and whispering is a big thing.

Would I be so naive to leave my precious possession in the hands of someone to sell simply because they were a hottie? “Of course not!”, I say to myself. However, I am a warm blooded kiwi male after all and can remember almost being suckered into buying a sky TV subscription by a very attractive and persuasive young lady who knocked on my door one evening. I didn’t purchase, but I do have to admit I wavered!

As she walked away, I called after her, “I don’t want sky cos my kids watch enough TV as it is, but if you ever want to try selling Real Estate, come back and see me, I want you working on my team!”

November 10 2009 | General Real Estate | No Comments »

Latest Wellington City Council Rating Values show falls

Yep, they’re out and the predicted drops in GV (Rating Valuation) have eventuated in many areas of Wellington. The Wellington City Council has been reviewing the Rating Valuations of the homes under its jurisdiction using Quotable Value and these new values were released online in the last day or so.

Having just done an audit of the homes the my company has on the market, most of the properties are showing a slight drop in RV (Rating Value) of around 5%. There have been some rises but this seems to have been limited to areas of new housing like Churton Park. It appears to me that the drops have come about as an adjustment to the Land Values not the Improvements Value. I am hearing through the grapevine that there has been a general drop of around 3.5% across the city, but this is unsubstantiated.

The biggest drop that I have seen so far involves a large parcel of rural land that has had a third of its value wiped from the Council books.

What do these changes in RV mean if anything?

There will be an adjustment period as owners and potential buyers come to grips with the new RV’s and how they compare with selling prices.

Some owners will pay less rates and some will pay more depending on how their Rating Value moved compared to other homes in the Council catchment.

Interestingly, prices in my area of influence in North Wellington are on the firm march upwards and these new RVs are already out of step with actual market value at the coalface (I compared the sale prices in the last month in our office with the new RV’s and most were at least $20k out with a couple more than $60k out). Now that the Council is moving to three yearly reviews to save themselves money, one can only wonder how out of kilter these values will be by the time they get redone again in 2012.

You can dispute your RV if you feel that it doesn’t do your property justice, but the only reason you would do this is if you were currently on the market or you were going to sell soon. Don’t let your ego get in the way of common sense. Why would you inform the Council that you want to pay MORE rates?

The timing on the disputes process will be longer than usual this year as there have been drops, so expect it to take at least a month or so for the powers that be to get into contact with you.

For more of my thoughts on the subject, have a read of a related post I made regarding RV’s here.

You can find out what your new RV is along with anyone other property in the WCC catchment for free until the end of November. Go to www.qv.co.nz and enter the address you want to check in the search bar. You’ll have to register so that QV can harvest your details for future emails, but it is free to d so. ONce you have registered, choose “Rating Valuation Report”. This is usually about $3 but is free for a limited time.

November 02 2009 | General Real Estate and North Wgtn House Market Trends | No Comments »