Hamilton home buyers playing the waiting game

MEDIA RELEASE
16 June 2014

Hamilton home buyers playing the waiting game

Hamilton, New Zealand – Lodge Real Estate’s managing director, Jeremy O’Rourke, said today that residential buyers seeking property in the Hamilton market are playing a waiting game.

“There are a lot of people actively looking for residential property in the Hamilton city market. What we’re not seeing is this ‘looking’ translating into as much ‘purchasing’ as we would expect. The number of homes sold in the city was up slightly in May to 232 from 204 in April. But this is down on the number of homes sold in Hamilton during May 2013, which was 301.

“At the moment, people seem to be content to sit back and wait for additional market direction. However, we believe the market is starting to provide some more certainty.

“Employment opportunities in the city are abundant, there is generally solid business growth and exports are strong. With such a positive economic outlook, we should see an influx of people moving into the city for jobs over the medium term, which will eventually increase buyer activity,” explained Mr O’Rourke.

With so many people content to wait for what they perceive as the ‘right property,’ Mr O’Rourke said there is a lot of opportunity for buyers, including investors, ready to make a quick move on quality homes.

He also said the recent influx of migrants into New Zealand should flow through to the local market in due course.

“In March, New Zealand had a net increase of 3,800 migrants, which is the second highest gain on record1. Hamilton normally benefits from increased migration as people naturally disperse from the cities into the provinces. The pattern we normally see in these circumstances is increased demand on rentals, and eventually increased purchasing activity as those migrants move into home ownership,” he said.

May’s median house price in Hamilton was $366,500 which was slightly up from $360,500 in April. Mr O’Rourke said interestingly enough, there were only three homes over $700,000 sold in the city last month.

The average number of days to sell a home in Hamilton during May was 35 days.

Lodge Real Estate is Hamilton city’s largest real estate agency by volume with over 35% of market share.

For the latest REINZ market data, visit www.reinz.co.nz .

-ENDS-

1 - http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/population/Migration/IntTravelAndMigration_MRMar14.aspx

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