Taranaki’s hot housing market
Emma Taylor is not surprised the average asking price for Taranaki homes hit an alltime high in May. The sales consultant says the last few weeks have been ‘‘absolute chaos’’.
Figures from sales website realestate. co.nz show the average asking price for the region in May was $504,887, the highest since records began in 2007 and an increase of 16.3 per cent compared to the same time last year.
Taylor, who works for Harcourts, put it down to people having time to reflect during lockdown on what they really wanted to achieve.
For many of her clients buying a home in the region was high on this priority list, which had resulted in the madness as they searched for homes, she said.
Taylor said properties like lifestyle blocks had been even more popular lately as people had decided they wanted more space and ‘‘room for the kids to play’’.
Low interest rates had also appealed to home buyers, she said.
Plus, Taylor had noticed a ‘‘huge, huge number’’ of people coming from outside the region to search for property – both nationally and internationally.
‘‘Our lifestyle is so great here.’’ McDonald Real Estate general manager Daniel McDonald believed the lack of property listings was pushing the prices up.
‘‘It’s probably as simple as the demand,’’ he said.
But, McDonald agreed lockdown may have inspired more people to buy, too.
‘‘They’ve had a chance to reassess their situation,’’ McDonald said. ‘‘There’s certainly lots of out-of-town interest.’’
Real Estate Institute New Zealand Taranaki spokesman Garry Malcolm said people had been asking him for decades when was a good time to buy or sell a house – and he said now is the time.
Malcolm said while prices were up, due to supply and demand, it was a good time to sell and then buy in the ‘‘same market’’.
Malcolm thought low interest rates would be drawing buyers in, as well as more people looking for a home after reflecting.
‘‘People have had a chance to think about Covid, and their future, in lockdown,’’ he said. ‘‘People are out there keen to buy.’’