Good weather spurs homebuyers

The Nelson housing market continues to look positive, latest Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) statistics show.

The median house price remained static for Nelson, Richmond and Motueka last month compared to January 2015, with Nelson City’s median price at $367,000 – a 2.8 per cent increase compared to January 2015’s median price of $357,000.

REINZ Nelson spokesman Darryl Marshall said the good weather in the region was boosting interest in houses.

‘‘The good weather continuing has made the attitude generally more upbeat, people are out and about looking at houses on the market,’’ said Marshall.

He said overseas visitors were also contributing to the interest.

‘‘I think that’s really interesting, I’ve struck people particularly from the United States and Canada,’’ he said.

The number of homes sold in Richmond rose by 43.8 per cent last month compared to January. This also reflected steady interest in the region, he said.

REINZ statistics showed the number of homes sold in Motueka had dramatically decreased last month, with a total of 15 homes sold compared to the 25 sold in January. However, Ray White Motueka principal Alan Atkins said its market was difficult to gauge in statistics because it was smaller and numbers were likely to fluctuate more.

‘‘The market [in Motueka] has been steady, we’ve had a good summer with good volume and it is looking good heading into autumn,’’ said Atkins.

Marshall said another positive factor was that the days-to-sell in the region was below the national average.