Wellington Market Steady in July 2012
Hey there property people 
The gurus at realestate.co.nz have released their monthly report for July recently, and it holds no great surprises (click HERE for the full report, including video interview between Bernard Hickey and Alistair Helm, CEO of realestate.co.nz). Times are still pretty good for vendors here in NZ. I wanted to give a Wellington perspective from “the coal face”, using this hard data to back up my personal experience.
Wellington summary
Here are the Wellington figures from July (click on the image for a larger view):
- Asking prices were higher in July than the previous two months. Is it possible that vendors are increasingly confident because they have seen approximately 9-10 months of reasonable selling conditions, or is it just a one-off? I am not seeing any noticeable difference (since say 6 months ago) to be honest. Most vendors with decent properties know that they do not need to sell at discount prices: the demand is robust so there is no need to sell cheaply, interest rates are low so they can afford to hold if need be, and most people still have their jobs so income continues to flow. Genuinely motivated vendors (relocating, separating, downsizing etc) need to accept market value, but discounting should not be required as long as the property is marketed well and the campaign is managed by a competent and hard working agent.
- Number of new listings is typically low during winter months, which makes it a good time to sell (unless your property receivesparticularly poor sun, which becomes blatantly obvious during winter, whereas it can go somewhat unnoticed during summer). Interestingly, the number of listings coming to the market this past July was even lower than last July, by 7%. There is therefore no sign presently that the supply is easing.
- Inventory continues to be relatively tight, meaning good conditions prevail for vendors, especially those with decent quality property – good locations (close to services and facilities), decent sun, reasonable access, no compliance issues, good maintenance / presentation etc. Wellington’s inventory has eased slightly from June (when it was the tightest we have seen for about 4 years), but it still remains slightly in favour of vendors, at 20.6 weeks, compared to long term average of about 22 weeks.
So, in my assessment, it remains a pretty good time to be a vendor in Wellington. If you want to sell a property, you should be able to get it sold at full market price, as long as you implement a quality marketing campaign, and you have a competent and hard working agent to manage the process for you.
If I can be of service with anything property, please let me know.
Mean time – happy buying and happy selling to you!
Adam Cockburn – Wellington Real Estate Agent – 021 409 637
August 08 2012 11:45 am | Uncategorized