Buyer rush back on for houses

Marlborough had the largest drop in houses for sale during lockdown in April, but they sold twice as fast as last year, and a flurry of buyer interest since has real estate agents optimistic.

A bach in the Marlborough Sounds sold at auction last week, amid ‘‘spirited bidding’’ from 10 interested buyers.

Bayleys Marlborough real estate agent Jeremy Ryan said it was his first auction post-covid restrictions, and the 10 potential buyers had been whittled down from 68 inquiries, with some from Dunedin, Auckland and overseas.

The waterfront Kenepuru Rd property had 36 physical inspections before and after lockdown, he said.

The region’s inventory of houses listed for sale in April was 213, down from 382 in April 2019, according to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, which was the largest drop (44 per cent) in the country.

Only 14 properties were sold, however the median amount of time they were on the market was 22 days, about half the time as listings in April last year.

Real estate agents say while people seemed less inclined to list properties for sale, buyer interest continued through lockdown, and with offices open again since alert level 2 started on May 15, that interest translated into many sales with multiple offers.

‘‘We obviously couldn’t do any property viewings during lockdown, but we all had a huge amount of email inquiries from ex-pats coming back to New Zealand, and people coming back to Marlborough. So it’s put us in a great position coming out of lockdown,’’ Ryan said.

‘‘People were wanting to see properties and make offers as soon as that happened, so a lot of activity has been happening.

‘‘I think with people being at home and looking online, they’ve been thinking about what to do next. So we’ve just been straight back into business.’’

Summit Marlborough sales manager Nadine Thomas said the team had been ‘‘flat out’’ since alert level 3 started.

‘‘It’s not perhaps as busy as it’s ever been, but it’s certainly bounced back,’’ Thomas said.

‘‘We’re very happy with this positive restart. But I was positive from the word go, I always knew in spite of what was happening demand would still outstrip supply, and people would still need a place to live.’’

Harcourts Marlborough sales manager Chris Greenhill said properties had been selling fast before, during and after the level 4 lockdown.

Harcourts was fielding more interest from overseas buyers, and the number of listings since alert level 2 started were on par with pre-lockdown, she said.

‘‘And we are still seeing multiple offer presentations so there’s still good buyer activity in the market.’’

First National Marlborough branch manager Angela Bowers said REINZ figures showing a big drop in sales were skewed by the lockdown.

‘‘We can take comfort that there was still activity happening under such uncertain circumstances, and coming out of lockdown there’s still open homes and people coming through. And I think Marlborough won’t take a hit the same as the rest of the country. We will maybe see a visible cooling,’’ Bowers said.

The region was lucky that a large part of its economy relied on primary industries able to carry on during lockdown as food and beverage producers, she said.

‘‘And that’s our diversity, we’re not so reliant on tourism.’’