House prices beating national trend in Timaru and Mackenzie

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There is still an appetite to spend money on housing in South Canterbury as REINZ figures report median price rises in both Timaru and Mackenzie districts.

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There is still an appetite to spend money on housing in South Canterbury as REINZ figures report median price rises in both Timaru and Mackenzie districts.

House prices in two South Canterbury districts are going upwards against the New Zealand-wide trend according to the latest REINZ figures.

NZ-wide, according the Real Estate Insitute of NZ, the median price was down 10.9% to $780,000 in April but the same report says the median price in the Timaru District rose 4.5% to $510,000 in April, compared to $488,000 in March and $495,000 in April 2022.

The median price rise was even more impressive in the Mackenzie District, up 13.8% from $615,000 in March to $700,000 in April. The report has no new figures for the Waimate District.

REINZ ambassador for the Timaru ward, Julian Blanchard, said it was a “cautious market, but with a sense of optimism locally”.

READ MORE:
* Timaru District’s median house prices increase $6000 in March
* Timaru District’s median house price hits record high, sees drop in first home buyers
* Median house price in Waimate hits record high of $460,000

“Buyers should have confidence that the median price has not been falling locally,” Blanchard said.

”As I have been saying for the last few months, the real estate market is tied to the local economy and is it still relatively strong with plenty of businesses looking for staff.

“The local economy is predominately agriculture based which is still showing demand.”

However, the number of houses being sold in the region and nationwide has plummeted.

Sales in the Timaru District are down 31.4% from 70 in March to 48 in April with 52 sold in April 2022. In the Mackenzie District, the April sales of eight were one ahead of March and double that recorded in April 2022.

Those sale numbers compare to the national figure which was down 28.8% from March to April and down 15.3% for April 2022 to April 2023. If Auckland sales are taken, sales for March to April are down 26.9% and 11.5% for April to April.

REINZ ambassador for Timaru, Julian Blanchard, says house buyers in the region should have confidence as prices have not been falling locally.

Bejon Haswell/Stuff

REINZ ambassador for Timaru, Julian Blanchard, says house buyers in the region should have confidence as prices have not been falling locally.

Blanchard said listing numbers in Timaru were slowly increasing, “but buyers are being cautious and often are taking advice from people who are misinformed or are thinking that the market will fall locally”.

“April has been traditionally been a month with less sales, but the trend over the last few months are starting to see a little pick up, but still well down from pre-Covid numbers.”

Blanchard said people often don’t list because there is not the choice for them to move.

“Our market is predominantly people moving within the district, so they are concerned about not having a house to go to.”

Blanchard said there were 33 sales in April in the Timaru ward with a median price of $480,000 and 42 median days to sell.

The median price is unchanged from March, when 56 houses sold in a median time of 33 days.

The median prices for houses in other Timaru districts were $499,000 (Pleasant Point-Temuka) and $580,000 (Geraldine).

Blanchard said there are new buyers coming to the market and interest rates are simply back to where they were to pre-Covid levels.

“The number of days [to sell] in April were up as we saw a number of professionals, banks, lawyers have been on holiday.”

Across Canterbury, the median price is down 2.9% from $680,000 in March to $660,000. The fall is largely driven by sales in the Christchurch City and Selwyn District which recorded 2.9% and 2.1% falls respectively to $660,000 and $822,500.

All the other areas reported median price rises with Ashburton up 12.8%, Hurunui District 3.2% and Waimakariri District 3.8% along with Mackenzie and Timaru rises.

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