More Listings Needed To Avoid Buyers Exiting The Market

“No one can get their hands on enough stock, regardless if they’re real estate agents or potential buyers. We haven’t seen such a uniformed, nationwide shortage of listings for a very long time. In fact, if listings don’t lift soon it could hamper the sector’s overall success,” says Derryn Mayne, Owner of Century 21 New Zealand.

Her comments come as REINZ today released October’s REINZ & Tony Alexander Real Estate Survey. Agents report strong auction and open home attendances, despite property listings still in short supply. In fact, concerns about insufficient listings remains the highest concern from buyers – well up since June.

“Century 21’s Turangi office has just sold an ex-Ministry of Works ‘hydro house’ for over 137% more than what the vendor paid for it three years earlier. It jumped from $139,000 in 2017 to $330,000 in 2020. We have dozens of stories like this across the country simply because there are so few houses for sale.”

Ms Mayne says with this latest survey headlining the continuation of a ‘very active market’, the coming summer could be one of the strongest for real estate in recent years, but it’s increasingly dependent on enough properties being put on the market.

“The worry is that the likes of young people will give up trying to buy a house because they’re sick of missing out, being priced out, or both. That would be a terrible outcome when interest rates are at record low levels, with economists predicting they’ll fall further. Success has to surely be when everyone gets a fair go!”

She says while agents are reporting rising cases of buyer FOMO (fear of missing out) which is only helping to drive up prices, the point must be nearing where many buyers will effectively be forced to stay paying high rents, hoping to wait the market out.

The survey notes that New Zealand’s residential real estate sector continues to out-perform the overall economy, especially against expectations six months ago.

“For the sake of the market’s ongoing sustainability, and to ensure new buyers can get in, we need those contemplating selling to actually list their properties. Potential vendors need to consider that almost all New Zealand agents are now reporting seeing price rises, and so those homeowners who take decisive action won’t be disappointed,” she says.

The Century 21 boss says the good news for buyers from October’s REINZ & Tony Alexander Real Estate Survey is that compared to the previous month, nearly twice as many agents say they’re receiving more requests to appraise the potential sale value of properties.

“Here’s hoping more properties will continue to come to market. That would help us deliver potentially the strongest summer we’ve seen for a while, and one where both buyers and sellers are happy,” says Derryn Mayne.

www.century21.co.nz

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