Luxury, location still key despite market shift
A five-bed log cabin in Alexandra inspired by the Lord of the Rings is one of the most viewed properties of the past two months, writes Kylie Klein Nixon.
The housing market might have slowed, but some listings are still attracting plenty of attention.
A five-bed log cabin in Alexandra, Central Otago, inspired by the Lord of the Rings films was Trade Me’s most viewed property listing in May and July.
The next most-viewed listing was a Tuscan-style mansion in Franklin, Auckland, then a ‘‘boho beach house’’ in Kaikōura.
Overall, listings sites say buyers are searching for homes with a garage, homes with a pool, and property in some of the most desirable suburbs.
Nicknamed The Shire, you enter the Alexandra home, which we also featured on Stuff, through a round, Hobbit-like door.
It was the brainchild of owners Jon and Clare Morris, who built the home themselves over 12 years, putting ‘‘all their dreams, time and passion’’ into the project. They even travelled to the Beaumont pine forest to choose the trees that would make the home’s frame – the logs, still with their roots – in person.
The home has five bedrooms, two bathrooms and two ensuites.
It also has a separate apartment over the garage, and a small cottage that was used as a guesthouse.
The Tuscan-style manor in Auckland is the second mostviewed property on Trade Me. It features a master suite the size of an average one-bedroom apartment, accessed through a private library. There’s a glass gallery and even his and hers toilets in the ensuite bathroom.
The Kaikōura property, a short walk from the beach, features a 200m2 kwila deck and timber beam pergolas, to make the most of the outdoor life.
Also popular on the site in the past two months were the midcentury inspired Te Ariki Nui in Wānaka – the private home of New Zealand fashion icon Robyn Hall, designed by award-winning architect Paul Clarke – and a modern ranch-style home in Waimārama.
The most popular properties on Neighbourly Property included a two-bed house in Clevedon with a double garage and car port, and a stunning stretch of undeveloped Coromandel beachside land in
tama.
What are buyers still searching for?
Luxury, aspirational and unusual properties tend to be the ones which are shared on social media, but the most popular search terms overall are a little more down-to earth.
On Realestate.co.nz, the top two search terms in recent months were ‘‘beach’’ and ‘‘pool’’, followed by ‘‘freehold’’, ‘‘waterfront’’ and ‘‘garage’’. The most popular price search by potential buyers was $700,000, followed by $600,000 and then $800,000.
‘‘The most common number of bedrooms searched was three, followed by two and four,’’ said Ashley Harder, head of brand and communications.
On Trade Me, Kiwis in need of a little extra space searched for properties with a ‘‘garage’’ more than 119,000 times last month, a 3% jump on June’s number.
As the weather deteriorated, summer was also apparently on our minds. ‘‘Searches for ‘pool’ jumped by 12% month-on-month, and searches for ‘beach’ were up 22%’’ said Trade Me Property sales director Gavin Lloyd.
‘‘The number of searches we saw for ‘home and income’ fell by 3% in July when compared with June, and we saw a 10% jump in the number of searches for ‘section’ in July when compared with June.’’
Which suburbs are most in demand?
The top 10 most in-demand suburbs in the country, when judged by Trade Me searches, were all in Auckland. The most searched-for suburb on the site was Remuera, followed by Mt Eden, Epsom and Grey Lynn.
That’s been the case for some time, says Remuera real estate agent Michael Boulgaris.
About a year ago, he ran some analysis with both listings platforms and also came up with Remuera and Epsom as the most searched-for.
‘‘What that indicated to me is that it’s all to do with schooling. Grammar zone,’’ he said.
Interest in properties in prestige areas is always high, he says, whatever is happening in the rest of the market.
As an example, this month he listed 171 Remuera Rd, Remuera, about 7pm. Less than 12 hours later, it had had more than 1200 views.
‘‘People are driven by the address. What would have put so many hits on this property is the fact that it’s at Remuera Rd, Remuera, so if anyone puts that keyword in, it’s going to come up.
‘‘It went live at 7pm, and I was still receiving texts for viewings at one in the morning.’’
At a certain point in the market – above $2 million – Boulgaris says, aspirational homes are always popular listings.
These ‘‘houses will always have a pool or a view’’, so that search term is always more likely to bring up high-end homes in sought-after locations.
In Wellington, the most searched suburbs on Trade Me were Mt Victoria, Thorndon, Hātaitai, Island Bay and Kelburn, reflecting some of the most expensive and coveted suburbs in the city.
There was a similar pattern in the South Island. Cashmere was the top suburb for folks house-hunting in Christchurch on Trade Me, followed by Merivale, Fendalton, Ilam and St Albans.
On Realestate.co.nz, the most searched suburbs for the period from May to July were Auckland Central, followed by Cambridge in Waikato, and Feilding in Manawatū.
According to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ), the number of properties available for sale nationally has increased 107.8% annually, from 12,684 in July 2021 to 26,358 in 2022.
There was a 33.3% dip in sales compared to 2021, however.
Property took 47 days to sell, on average in July – 16 days longer to sell than the same month last year.