House prices on rise, listings down

There’s good news and bad news for those wanting to buy a property in Marlborough – the average price is sitting below $500,000 but the market is competitive.

While the average price of property in Marlborough is up, reaching $445,500, it still sits below the country’s average, which has passed the $600,000 mark for the first time, according to the latest REINZ data.

The number of sales in Marlborough for October had decreased by 28.7 per cent compared with the same period last year, which was the biggest drop for a region in the country.

Real Estate Institute New Zealand

chief executive Bindi Norwell said the lack of listings in the Marlborough region had resulted in multi-offers and pushed auctions forward, which is likely to have pushed up the average house price in the region.

Bayleys Marlborough general manager David Lee said ‘‘traditionally October was popular for people to put their house on the market so the uptake this year has been a little bit slower than normal’’.

‘‘It’s normally an attractive time of year – people’s gardens are looking good and things like that – we see a boost normally. This year we haven’t seen that immediate boost at the beginning of spring,’’ Lee said.

However, he said November had started to pick up and more houses were being put on the market. ‘‘Across New Zealand there’s been an increase in about 8.2 per cent in the median house price,’’ Lee said. ‘‘Marlborough’s certainly mirroring that trend across the country, prices have definitely seen an increase across the last month.’’

He said Marlborough was ‘‘seeing a lot of activity from first home buyers’’ but because there was a rental shortage – it made properties desirable for people from outside of the region.

‘‘We’re lucky in the sense that the median price is below the country average. Finding a property $500,000 and less is getting harder and harder, so for first home buyers there’s still an opportunity to get on the property ladder here,’’ Lee said.

‘‘But we’re probably seeing investors from outside the region identifying that it is a good place to invest because of the lower median price.

‘‘There’s still a shortage of good quality rental stock – so if you get a good property, you’re virtually guaranteed to find a good quality tenant.’’

. . . ‘‘traditionally October was popular for people to put their house on the market so the uptake this year has been a little bit slower than normal’’.

David Lee Bayleys Marlborough general manager