Feilding house prices highest in 20 years

Buying a home in Feilding is more expensive than it has been in 20 years, but the price hike has not put a dampener on the number of houses being sold.

The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand put the Manawatu town’s average sale price at $355,000 in June, which is the highest point since 1997.

Palmerston North was also at a 20-year peak, with the average price reaching $362,550.

REINZ Manawatu spokesman Andy Stewart said demand was still exceeding the housing supply, which had been a problem in Manawatu for the past two years.

He said houses were selling almost as fast as they were listed.

‘‘Most properties in Palmerston North and Feilding are under contract within a week of going on the market.’’

Last year, Stewart said the market was the tightest he had seen in 29 years, with an average of 250 to 260 houses for sale at any one time.

But that number looked relatively good compared with this year, which has averaged 190 to 200 houses.

It was definitely a sellers’ market, Stewart said.

Feilding couple David and Hayley Smeaton sold their central Feilding home in eight days, and the sale went unconditional on July 13.

Hayley Smeaton said they sold the house on the same day as their daughter Adair, their sixth child, was born.

‘‘I don’t recommend putting a house on the market just before your due date, but that’s how the timing worked out.’’

She said they were not surprised at how fast their old home sold, as it was common knowledge that there was fierce competition between buyers at the moment.

‘‘I knew it was a sellers’ market in Feilding.

‘‘The house across the driveway from us went within two weeks just before we put ours on the market.’’

Feilding New Zealand Real Estate agent Nicola Barnett said the town’s housing market had been particularly tight on supply for the past 18 months.

For example, an average of 34 houses were sold in the town each month, but realestate.co.nz, which collects all real estate listings, only had 40 currently on the market, she said.

The market was tight enough that the Smeatons wouldn’t have put their old home for sale if they didn’t have a new place already lined up, Hayley Smeaton said.

They had secured a lifestyle block 15 minutes out of town and were excited to move into their new home on Friday.

The Smeatons had left a similar lifestyle block when they moved from Dunedin 18 months ago.

‘‘We’ve got a large family and we were quite keen to get back on the land,’’ she said.