Timaru Real Estate

Who is the cheapest real estate agent?

Who is the cheapest agent?

September 07 2012 | Property market Timaru and Real estate tips and Timaru Property and Timaru Real Estate | No Comments »

Timaru Property Report – June 2012

The latest “Timaru Property Report – June 2012″ is now available

“First home buyers and Investors driving the market.

…We are now seeing clear evidence that the ‘First Home Buyers’ and ‘Investors’ are again becoming a significant force in our local market with 36% of the Timaru sales under $200,000 last month…”

You can download this latest report from our website and register to receive it automatically every month to your email.

June 12 2012 | Property market Timaru and Real estate tips and Timaru Property and Timaru Real Estate and Uncategorized | No Comments »

Timaru Property Report – February 2012

The latest “Timaru Property Report – February 2012″ is now available

” Listings getting short – balance of market changing…

… We are currently selling more properties than are being listed for sale. So right at this point in time we are achieving some premium prices with buyers competing for the good stock. If you have been holding off selling – now’s good “

You can download this latest report from our website and register to receive it automatically every month to your email.

February 14 2012 | Property market Timaru and Real estate tips and Timaru Property and Timaru Real Estate and Uncategorized | No Comments »

Timaru Property Report – December 2011

The latest ‘Timaru Property Report – December 2011″ is now available.

“Signs continue to improve.

 …The two stats of note this month is the further increase in the number of sales and the further drop in available listing stock.  If this trend continues it will obviously put further upward pressure on prices.  However, a large …”

You can download this latest report from our website and register to receive it automatically every month to your email.

December 09 2011 | Property market Timaru and Real estate tips and Timaru Property and Timaru Real Estate and Uncategorized | No Comments »

Timaru Property Report – September 2011

The median house price for Timaru stayed relatively stable with a very slight drop to $222,500 in August 2011, this however is well above the $200,000 recorded in August 2010.

Please note that because of the relatively small size of our market, our median tends to fluctuate substantially. Therefore the long-term trend line tends to be a more helpful indication of what prices are doing.

The blue trend line represents a 6 monthly moving average.

The volume of Timaru house sales has dropped back from 59 in July, to 44 in August 2011. This however is still a jump from the 34 sales recorded in August 2010.

Over the last 12 month period we have averaged 43 sales per month. However the average for the last 6 months is 49, which as the trend line suggests shows a slow increase back towards more respectable volumes.

The average number of sales per month for the previous 16 years (Jan 95 – Dec 10) is 61 sales per month.

The median days to sell dropped significantly from 103 days in July to 69 days in August.

We estimate there are currently 302 houses being advertised for sale in the Timaru residential market. This is a small increase from the estimated 296 last month but is well below the 385 back in March 11. It shows that the number of new listings coming onto the market is still low and bucking the national trend of more increasing listing numbers.

Based upon the last 3 months average number of sales, we currently have approx 6 months supply of stock available in the market compared to 9.5 months supply back in March 2011.

Comments:

Surprise drop in volume.

After July’s highest volume of sales since October 2009 we posed the question – “Is this level of sales here to stay, or was this just a one off?”. Ourpredictionwas“similarlevels-ifnotmoresales”. In this case we have been proven wrong and just goes to show how difficult this market is to predict (even by us so called experts). We still believe that overall volumes are increasing and should continue to slowly rise back to more respectable levels.

As we have mentioned several times now, the major issue facing agents is the shortage of new listings coming onto the market. This is still the case, with the traditional spring flush of listings so far not eventuating. You may also be interested to know that some of the much talked about “Christchurch Buyers” are now starting to show up in our market. It is going to be an interesting few months.

You can download a pdf version here.

September 14 2011 | Property market Timaru and Real estate tips and Timaru Property and Timaru Real Estate | No Comments »

Timaru Property Report – August 2011

Although the median house price for Timaru dropped from $232,500 in June to $223,500 in July, you will note that the 6 monthly moving average is still well above the lows of late last year and early 2009. And is back on a par with late 2009.

Please note that because of the relatively small size of our market, our median tends to fluctuate substantially. Therefore the long-term trend line tends to be a more helpful indication of what prices are doing.

The blue trend line represents a 6 monthly moving average.

The big news is that the volume of residential house sales in Timaru jumped significantly to 58 sales in July compared to 46 in June and mere 32 sales in July 2010. In fact, this is the highest volume of monthly sales in our market since October 2009 and the highest July since 2007.

Over the last 12 month period we have averaged 42 sales per month. However the average for the last 5 months is 50, which as the trend line suggests shows a slow increase back towards more respectable volumes.

The average number of sales per month for the previous 16 years (Jan 95 – Dec 10) is 61 sales/mth.

The median days to sell jumped from 81 days in June to 103 days in July. However, if you look at the higher volume of sales, you’ll see that many properties that had previously been sitting are now starting to sell.

We estimate there are currently 296 houses being advertised for sale in the Timaru residential market. This is a further drop from the estimated 321 last month and a significant drop from the 385 back in March 11. It shows that the number of new listings coming onto the market is low and not keeping up with the number of listings selling and being withdrawn.

Based upon the last 3 mths average number of sales, we currently have just under 5.7 mths supply of stock available in the market compared to 9.5 months supply back in March 2011.

Comment:

Highest volume of monthly sales in our market since October 2009 and the best July since 2007.

As you can see from the figures above – 58 sales last month is a return to the kind of volume we would expect in a fairly normal market.

The question on many peoples minds will be – “Is this level of sales here to stay, or was this just a one off?”. Well as always – time will tell. However, if the level of new contracts and fresh buyer enquiry in our office (so far this month) is any indicator – we expect August to show similar levels – if not more sales.

The other thing to consider is that we really haven’t seen the Christchurch buyers turning up in great numbers yet.

As mentioned last month, the major issue now facing agents, is the shortage of new listings coming onto the market. This situation has increased with a further drop in available properties for sale. Many buyers that were previously sitting on their hands have now decided to act – so when will the hesitant sellers do the same? And will we see a rush of sellers hitting the market in the spring?

You can download a pdf version of this report here

August 10 2011 | Property market Timaru and Real estate tips and Timaru Property and Timaru Real Estate | No Comments »

Timaru Property Report – July 2011

The median house price for Timaru dropped slightly in June 11 to $232,500 from $235,000 in May. This is the third month in a row with the median around the $230,000 level.  This hopefully shows that the market is re-gaining some confidence and starting to steady.

Please note that because of the relatively small size of our market, our median tends to fluctuate  substantially. Therefore the long-term trend line tends to be a more helpful indication of what prices are doing.

The blue trend line represents a 6 monthly moving average.

Although the volume of house sales in Timaru dropped slightly from 51 in May 11 to 46 in June, we have now had four months in a row with the volume above 40.

Over the last 12 month period we have averaged 40 sales per month.  However the average for the last 4 months is 49,  which as the trend line suggests shows a slow increase back towards more respectable volumes.

To put these figures into perspective, the average number of sales per month for the previous 16 years (Jan 95 – Dec 10) was 61 sales/mth.

The median days to sell stayed relatively steady in June at 81 days compared to 79 in May 11.

We estimate there are currently 321 houses being advertised for sale in the Timaru residential market. This is a further drop from the estimated 349 last month and a significant drop from the 385 back in March 11.

It shows that the number of new listings coming onto the market is low and not keeping up with the number of listings selling and being withdrawn.

Based upon the last three months average number of sales, we currently have just under 7 months supply of stock available in the market compared to 9.5 months

Comment:

More evidence to support our comments last month – that the market is shifting…

“The median days to sell, number of properties on the market and months supply of available stock are all showing a downward trend. At the same time, the volume of sales (number of people buying) and the median price are showing an upward trend. What does this mean? Simply that the balance of power is slowly but surely shifting from what we’d call a ‘buyers market’ to a more balanced market.”

The major issue now facing agents, is the shortage of new listings coming onto the market.

At the coal face, we are starting to see more and more multiple offer situations, with buyers fighting over the same property. Some buyers are finding out (the hard way) that they don’t have as much negotiation power as they thought they did.

If you would like to receive a pdf copy of this report monthly to your email, then register now by simply emailing  ”Timaru Property Report” to sales@timaruhomes.co.nz

July 11 2011 | Property market Timaru and Real estate tips and Timaru Property and Timaru Real Estate and Uncategorized | No Comments »

Timaru Property Report – April 2011

The median house price for Timaru rose slightly in March to $220,000 compared to $216,000 in February 2011. March 2010 was $223,000 which shows that as a whole prices have remained flat over the past year. Please note that because of the relatively small size of our market, our median tends to fluctuate substantially. Therefore the long-term trend line tends to be a more helpful indication of what prices are doing.

The volume of house sales in Timaru jumped significantly in March to 55 houses sold compared to 31 in February 2011 and was also a big rise from the 38 sales in March 2010. This is the highest volume of sales in our market since April 2010. Over the last 12 month period we have averaged 40 sales per month. To put this figure into perspective, the average number of sales per month for the previous 15 years (Jan 95 – Dec 09) was 62 sales.

The median days to sell rose back to 81 days in March 2011 from 56 in February 2011. When we look deeper at the numbers, we see that there were a number of properties sold that had been on the market for 200 days or more. This is a sign that some of the old stock is starting to move. We estimate there are currently 385 houses being advertised for sale in the Timaru residential market. This is a significant rise from the estimated 355 last month and shows that March was also a solid month for new listings.

Comment

The significant jump in the volume of sales to more repectable levels is very encouraging. The question is – was this just a spike? Or is this the start of a new trend?

Our best guess is that we will continue to see higher volumes going forward. Why? Firstly, because our number of new contracts written in March was high compared to previous months (Many of these will become unconditional in April), which suggests that we will at least have two stonger months in a row.

Secondly, the current low interest rates and upward pressure on rents is starting to attract the investors back into our market.  Finally, more and more people are becomming aware of the fundamental long term shortage of housing in New Zealand.  This coupled with the prospect of Christchurch buyers flooding our market once they sort out their affairs up the road, has many locals realising that now could be the right time to jump back in.

You can download a pdf copy of this report here

April 11 2011 | Property market Timaru and Real estate tips and Timaru Property and Timaru Real Estate and Uncategorized | No Comments »

Timaru Property Report – March 2011

The median house price for Timaru dropped again in February to $216,000, compared to $240,000 in January 2011. You will notice that this brings the median more in line with the long term trend. Please note that because of the relatively small size of our market, our median tends to fluctuate substantially.  Therefore the long-term trend line tends to be a more helpful indication of what prices are doing.

The volume of house sales in Timaru dropped again in February to 31 houses sold compared to 35 in January 2011 and was a big drop from the 48 sales in Feb 2010. Over the last 12 month period we have averaged 39 sales per month. With 8 of those months under 40.

To put this figure into perspective, average number of sales per month for the previous 15 years (Jan 95 – Dec 09) was 62 sales.

The median days to sell fell from 82 days in January 2011 to 56 in February 2011. This has been showing a downward trend since Oct 2010 and is an indication that sellers have become more realistic with their asking prices. We estimate there are currently 355 houses available for sale in the Timaru residential market. This is a drop from the estimated 375 last month and shows that new stock into the market is slow.

Comment:

Very interesting times indeed. Late last year the volume of sales was showing signs of rising to more respectable levels – then wham – 2 months in the 30’s. Obviously the earthquake hit on the 22nd Feb, however all of the unconditional sales in Feb were under contract before the earthquake hit. So we won’t see the effect of the quake on our market until March and beyond. Most are predicting that the effect will be positive. Many are talking about the problem of buyers getting insurance – realistically it’s not a huge problem here in Timaru (we have had no sales fall because of this issue). At the coal face we are experiencing strong buyer enquiry but are very short of fresh new listings to satisfy that demand. So if you have been hanging off selling – now could be a good time to jump in.

You can download the pdf version of this here

March 09 2011 | Property market Timaru and Real estate tips and Timaru Property and Timaru Real Estate and Uncategorized | No Comments »

Timaru Property Report – February 2011

The median house price for Timaru rose in January to $240,000, compared to $215,000 in December 2010.  This jump is mainly due to a change in the price level of buyer activity.  For example, in December only 8.5% of sales were between $250,000 – $300,000 compared to 20% in January.  Please note that because of the relatively small size of our market, our median tends to fluctuate substantially.  Therefore the long-term trend line tends to be a more helpful indication of what prices are doing.

The volume of house sales in Timaru dropped again in January to 35 houses sold compared to 47 in December 2010 but was a rise from 28 sales in January 2010.  Over the last 12 month period we have averaged perspective, the average number of sales per month for the previous 15 years (Jan 95 – Dec 09) was 62 sales.

The median days to sell rose from 72 days in December 2010 to 82 in January 2011.  It is interesting to note that if you remove 2 sales that took close to 1 year to sell – then the median would drop to 65 days.  We estimate there are currently 375 houses available for sale in the Timaru residential market.  Based on the average number of sales per month (40) this means there is approximately 9 months supply of stock available.

Comment:

As many of you know, statistics can be deceiving and at times confusing.  On the face of it, our median price jumped, yet the number of sales are still very low and days on the market rose.  Logically, those three stats are out of sync.  You would expect low volume and rising days on the market to put downward pressure on prices.  However, at the coal face of the market – our take is quite different.  We are seeing increased buyer enquiry and activity along with a noticeable shortage of quality new listings coming onto the market. Since January we have had several multiple offer situations and perceive homes are selling faster.

You can download the pdf version of this report here.

February 09 2011 | Property market Timaru and Real estate tips and Timaru Property and Timaru Real Estate and Uncategorized | No Comments »