Housing market under pressure – Harcourts

Sunday Star Times

DEMAND DRIVES SALES: The QV index for November, out today, shows national values up 1 per cent on a year ago and about 4 per cent better than the low point in April.

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An imbalance between demand and supply is putting upward pressure on prices in the residential property market, according to the latest report from Harcourts New Zealand.

The real estate agent said it had a good volume of written sales in October but there was not a traditional upsurge in new listings in spring.

This ensured that there was a strong level of competition from buyers for the available properties, said Harcourts New Zealand chief executive Bryan Thomson.

His comments come after real estate group First National rubbished talk of a property market "mini-boom".

Figures published by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand on Friday showed the national median house price at a new high in October of $355,000, nearly 6 per cent above a year earlier, and $5000 higher than September.

"There are a few well presented houses in each market sector, suburb and price bracket that people are fighting over but there are fewer houses selling overall," First National general manager John Stewart said.

"Those not winning the battle for these prime properties are sitting back and waiting for the next `cherry' to pick whereas during boom times they rush off and buy the next best."

Mr Thomson said Harcourts New Zealand completed 53 per cent more written sales last month than in October 2008, ranging from an 80 per cent increase in the group's northern region to a 31 per cent increase in its Wellington region.

Average written sales prices were up on the same month in the previous year in three of Harcourts' five regions.

Mr Thomson said the amount of property on hand in October was down in three of Harcourts' regions when compared to the same month last year.

Given the supply-demand imbalance a high number of sellers were choosing high-profile auction marketing campaigns to maximise the benefit of the present buyer competition.

- NZPA