November buyers "fragile" accoridng to First national

First National’s monthly office survey shows November real estate activity trended toward buyers calling the shots, prompting a word of caution to vendors.

The survey’s results were punctuated by comments on buyers taking their time to make decisions, deals taking longer to put together and lengthy times taken to reach agreement with sellers or get finance. One Auckland office described buyers as “fragile.”

First National Group (NZ) General Manager John Stewart said competition for good properties had returned to the main cities but regional centres once again had problems with vendors overpricing.

New listings were noticeably overpriced more in November than October or September.

“Vendors needing to sell in the near future should carefully consider the presentation and pricing of their properties against the negative buyer pressures of wider choice and pending higher interest costs,” Stewart cautioned.

Listings have quietly increased over the past three months, hovering between 7300 - 7400.

Almost 39% of offices reported quieter activity at open homes and less overall enquiry than October but despite this, sales from steady October activity made up for it.

Numbers of contracts signed in November were up on October for 37% of offices, the same for 24% of offices and down on October for 22% of offices.

Price-wise, top end properties were generally still slow to move however the first home buyer sector and the lower end of the market remained active across the country.

Bright spots in the survey’s findings were:

o Nelson’s days-to-sell reducing, with some residential properties selling within just 7 days.

o Howick confirmed double the sales of November last year, due partly to people moving at the end of the year to favourable school zones.

o Rural interest has lifted in Marlborough, Whangamata and Kaitaia and section sales, while quieter in Central Otago continued to strengthen in other areas including Richmond, Feilding and Northland.

First National has over 450 offices in Australia and 70 offices in New Zealand, located from Kaitaia in the north to Riverton in the south.