Uphill sales battle
Real estate salespeople aren’t giving up – just working a bit harder.
Data from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) shows the property market is still soft, although the pace of decline in activity looks to be stabilising.
Nationwide seasonally-adjusted house sales volumes fell 2.8 per cent month-on-month in April, but were 6.6 per cent higher than in April 2017.
In Auckland, the seasonally adjusted number of sales fell 5.1 per cent over the month, but was 2.4 per cent higher than in April 2017.
One real estate agent, who did not want to be identified, said it was hard to get listings.
Many salespeople were immediately dropping their commission to get vendors to sign up with them, he said. It took work to get buyers to sign contracts, ‘‘but the median sale price has never been higher. So you could say it’s just taking a bit longer to get that premium price.’’
The number of properties available for sale increased 1.1 per cent in April compared with a year ago. That was pushed up by big increases in places such as Nelson, where available inventory was up almost 20 per cent.
Outside Auckland, the number of properties available for sale fell 0.5 per cent and Auckland’s 4.1 per cent increase was the lowest annual rate of change since October 2016.
But while market conditions have been tougher in many parts of the country over the past year, salespeople were not leaving the market over it – there were 15,955 active licences in March, compared with 14,965 in March 2016.
Norwell said a good agent could deal with any market conditions. ‘‘Real estate agents are having to work harder.’’
Buyers were taking more time over their decisions and more work had to be put into marketing, finding prospects and dealing with potential buyers, she said. ‘‘It’s not as easy as it used to be.’’
Prices continue to rise in some parts of the country – while Auckland prices were up only 0.9 per cent year-on-year, according to the institute’s house price index, Hawke’s Bay’s were up 15 per cent.
Outside Auckland, the country’s median increased $10,000 over the year. Manawatu/Wanganui, Nelson and Otago all recorded record median prices in April.
Auckland’s median price dropped $30,000 compared with March and $5000 compared with April 2017, to $850,000, but Norwell said that could be partly attributed to more properties selling between $250,000 and $750,000.
‘‘It’s positive to see more sales in the more affordable price brackets,’’ she said.
Norwell said the Government’s plans to build 16,000 homes in the first three years of the KiwiBuild programme were welcome.
‘‘The KiwiBuild programme will make a significant difference to housing affordability around the country, but these homes need to be built as quickly as possible to help first-home buyers and those on low incomes to be able to get a foot on the property ladder.’’
ASB economist Kim Mundy said there were complicated dynamics at play.
‘‘The tug o’war between stretched affordability [and] legislative changes versus still-strong population growth and low housing supply looks to have continued.
‘‘Regional differences remain stark, with the smaller regions playing catch-up. We expect the situation to persist until greater clarity over the impact of the new government reforms emerges.
‘‘This could be some time away, and the market is likely to remain directionless for a while yet.’’