High end of housing market hot in Hamilton

MEDIA RELEASE
11 December 2014

High end of housing market hot in Hamilton

Hamilton, New Zealand – Lodge Real Estate’s managing director, Jeremy O’Rourke, said today that Hamilton’s residential housing market has experienced five months of steady growth. He says this is the city’s strongest growth trend since early 2009.

“For the fifth month in a row the Hamilton residential market has seen growth in both the number of homes sold and the number of listings coming on to the market. There’s very strong demand for Hamilton homes, including more confidence coming from first home buyers,” said Mr O’Rourke.

He said the upper end of the housing market was particularly strong.

“Homes with a value of over $700,000 made up 5% of Hamilton’s house sales during November, around 2% higher than recent months. The $500,000-$600,000 price bracket is also stronger than it’s been in a very long while.

“Additionally, we are seeing strong buyer demand for homes valued at over $1 million. Four homes over $1 million were sold in the city within the past month and we even have a few buyers looking for properties around the $2 million mark. When the upper end of the market is as strong as this, it’s a great signal of sustained market recovery,” explained Mr O’Rourke.

The Real Estate Institute of NZ (REINZ) released their monthly figures on Wednesday 10 December, which showed Hamilton’s median home price jumped from $356,000 in October to $380,000 in November. The number of homes sold in Hamilton during November was 279, compared to 242 in October and 277 in November 2013.

“Hamilton’s median house price is trending up month on month. Of particular note is that the median in the suburbs of Rototuna, Flagstaff and Woodstock are now all over $500,000. One year ago, the medians in Flagstaff and Rototuna suburbs were sitting at around $480,000,” said O’Rourke.

There were 971 properties available for sales at the end of November, up from 934 in October.

Lodge Real Estate is Hamilton city’s largest real estate agency by volume with over 34% of residential market share. For the latest REINZ market data, visit www.reinz.co.nz .

-ENDS-

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