Record prices paid for Waipa¯ properties
Median property price records continue to be smashed with the Waipa¯ district breaking the $800,000 mark in the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand’s report for March.
Waipa¯ recorded a 21.4 per cent increase in its median price range, moving from $660,000 in March 2020, to $801,000 in March 2021.
Hamilton also had a record month for median prices, moving from $620,000 to $780,000, a 25.8 per cent increase for the same period.
The overall median property price for the Waikato region was $730,000, a 22.7 per cent annual increase.
The national median was $826,300, up 24.3 per cent over the past 12 months.
Waipa¯ and Hamilton were among five out of 10 district and city areas in the Waikato which surpassed previous records; Waikato district was $720,000; Matamata-Piako district, $680,000 and Hauraki district, $590,000.
The remaining five all had increases but were not recording breaking: O¯ torohanga ($475,000); South Waikato ($395,000); Taupo¯ ($665,000); Thames-Coromandel ($825,000) and Waitomo ($349,000). The REINZ report showed properties were selling for higher prices and taking fewer days to sell, but the number of homes for Waikato buyers to choose from continued to fall.
REINZ Regional Director Neville Falconer said in March, there were half the number of properties for sale compared to the same month in 2020.
‘‘We say there was seven weeks worth of inventory for March, which means it would take seven weeks to sell every property, at the current rate, if nothing new was listed. If we compare that to March last year, we had 14 weeks of supply.’’
Despite lower stock numbers, 971 properties in the Waikato region were sold compared to 682 for the same month last year and 860 for February 2021. Hamilton city sold the highest number of properties, 427 for March, compared to 299 for the same month a year ago, and 377 in February 2021.
Waikato district was the neatest contender, on 95 properties sold for March, compared to 63 a year ago and 75 for February 2021. The number of days to sell a property decreased by five, to 24, lower than the
10-year average for March which was 36.
Falconer said anecdotally, agents were finding there was less inquiry than six months ago as the Government looked to make new tax laws around property ownership.
‘‘While there may be some who are deterred from becoming landlords, we are still seeing migration, there are still people moving to New Zealand to live and the demand for homes is still there.’’
Competition among buyers would continue as long as there was a shortage of new properties coming on to the market.
‘‘The Government is tinkering around the edges [with tax reforms] but our main problem of land supply and supply chain for construction, remains.’’