Lift in rural and coastal sales in 2010 predicted

Solidity in residential market, lift in rural and coastal sales in 2010 predicted by Harcourts NZ CEO

22 December 2009: Harcourts New Zealand CEO Bryan Thomson is predicting “solidity” in the New Zealand residential real estate market next year and improvement in both the coastal and rural segments after a varied year in 2009.

“While compared to the dark days of 2008 there has been significant improvement in the residential real estate market in the main centres this year, in other locations and segments of the market things have continued to be challenging,” Mr Thomson says.

“In the major metropolitan centres there has been a marked increase in the volume of house sales and prices have been positively impacted in recent months by the imbalance between supply and demand, but overall sales numbers in most locations remain below historic averages.

“For example in provincial centres the market has not seen as much buoyancy as the big cities, partially because the rural economy has slowed and as a consequence of the financial environment, property investors appear to have been more cautious about provincial locations, while the volume of farm sales has dropped right off and demand for coastal property has been low too.

“In 2010 however I believe that in addition to ongoing solidity in the residential marketplace in the main centres there will be an improvement in the provinces too, all stimulated by attractive floating mortgage interest rates, far better than predicted unemployment figures and positive immigration.

“Improvement in dairy farm income should have a positive impact on provincial areas too and see farm sales start to improve as well, meanwhile we also expect to see more activity in coastal areas in 2010, with the easing economic situation helping renew interest in baches and sections in coastal locations.”

ENDS

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