House buyers and potential sellers are building in numbers at open homes in Richmond, with 55 groups going through one house in recent weeks.
At one Wellington open home recently, 180 groups filed through a house during a three-week campaign, and while Richmond cannot compare with that, Matt Goodman from Harcourts says getting 55 groups through a house was “massive” compared with recent months. The house was a spacious four-bedroom home near schools, which he says was a sought-after area.
While that home attracted particular interest, other properties are getting five to eight groups through an open home which he says is still considerably more interest than previously.
It is still a very mixed market though, he says. Some properties are on the market for three to four months with little interest, while another sold in two days and a few properties have had multiple offers.
“I think there are signs the market is picking up, but buyers are still taking their time and a lot have properties to sell.”
He says buyers are willing to put an offer on properties that are different but are holding off making offers on stock-standard properties that are similar to many on the market, in the hope there will be a price drop, he says.
Among those seeking to buy in Richmond are people from out-of-town heading to the region for work, a lifestyle change, family, or taking advantage of selling on a lifting market in other centres.
Craig Hamilton from Mike Pero Real Estate has also noticed more buyers in the market who have sold a property elsewhere and are looking for a new home in the region, as well as new immigrants looking for homes.
He says the drop in new builds will put pressure on the existing house market as the population increases.
“A lot of pressure will come back on the houses already built because there hasn’t been the building in the last few months. All the ones being built now are pretty much sold. So, there will be a delay. We’re just not building enough houses in New Zealand.”
Despite the slower market nationwide in recent times, he says Richmond has remained quite strong. In the past three months there have been 90 sales in Richmond, while the past six months there were 159 sales and the past 12 months, 298 sales.
The median number of days for a Richmond property to sell in winter a year ago was 51 days and this year it had reduced to 41 days. Last year the median sale price in Richmond was $875,000 and this year it has been $825,000.
“We’re definitely at the bottom of the market and will start to go up next year if the supply goes down.”
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Callum Gilchrist from Summit Real Estate has also noticed an increase in numbers through open homes, though buyers are still biding their time.
“A lot more people are thinking interest rates have peaked and now is a time to see what is happening in the market. They’re in their research stage and looking ahead to spring.
“The sale price statistics still say it’s on a decline, but the rate of decline is minimal, so the feeling is we’re going to stabilise soon and the trend is we will stabilise for a few years.
“I think people will start to transact in spring to get themselves set up in their new home by Christmas. There also seems to be a bit of a culture of putting your house on the market in spring when the yard looks good. But listings are lower now so they would be better off putting it on now.”
Investors have not returned to the market and Callum says it does not stack up financially for them to buy property right now given the higher interest rates and changes to Government settings.
He says many houses were taken off the market as prices declined and have been rented out until the market improves.
