2016 Predicted to be a Good Year in Real Estate
By Tristan Hooker/MediaPA
The Hamilton property market will remain stable in 2016, according to Lodge Real Estate’s Emily Hunt.
“The number of residential properties sold in Hamilton during November continued to reflect both the buyer confidence in the Hamilton market, and the strong population growth the city is enjoying,” says Emily. “However, for the first time since May this year, buyers displayed a resistance to price with the city’s median pulling back from $435,000 in October to $425,000 in November.
“The median has soared twenty-four percent since March so a degree of consolidation was to be expected. Vendors need to exercise caution when setting an asking price as buyers are beginning to overlook properties which are priced ahead of the market. This is evident in auction rooms where clearance rates are down slightly and is also reflected in median days to sell, which is out to twenty-nine days from twenty-three in August”.
Many of the buyers were Aucklanders being driven south by high prices. Auckland investors accounted for 14% of all sales in Hamilton in 2015.
“Auckland was doing terribly,” says Emily, “and that drove the Auckland buyers down here. That’s why we saw prices go above even the 2007 hype”.
Emily expects the market will level out in 2016. “I think the prices will continue,” she says. “With the influx of more houses coming on the market in the next few months, it will mean not that the prices will go down but will continue to be at this new level. There’s no reason to think that the prices would start to skyrocket like they did last year.”
“People are pushing themselves a little bit further to get that house, which is great for vendors. As long as a buyer can get it at a price they’re comfortable with, it’s still great for buyers as well”.
“That’s the general expectation of where it’s going,” says Emily. “2016 is going to be big.”
Contact Emily Hunt:
Office: Lodge Real Estate Dinsdale
Address: Dinsdale Shopping Centre, 35 Whatawhata Road
Email: emilyh@lodge.co.nz
Phone B: 07 847 7800
Mobile: 022 064 2896
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emilyhuntlodge
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