Highest number of properties sold

Real Estate Market September 2020 – Summary of REINZ report

The number of residential properties sold in September across New Zealand increased by 37.1% from the same time last year (from 6,112 to 8,377) – the highest number of properties sold in a month in New Zealand for 42 months (March 2017) and the highest number of properties sold in a September month for 14 years, according to the latest data from Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ).

Nelson: +66.2% (from 65 to 108 – 43 more houses) – the highest for the month of September in 17 years

Tasman: +42.5% (from 73 to 104 – 31 more houses) – the highest for a September month since records began

Bindi Norwell, Chief Executive at REINZ says: “Normally one month out from an election, people start to take a wait and see approach, and sales volumes begin easing off. However, 2020 appears to continue in its trend of being an anomaly, with the number of properties sold the highest in 42 months, since March 2017, when the country was last experiencing such growth.”

“2020 appears to continue in its trend of being an anomaly, with the number of properties sold the highest in 42 months”

Bindi Norwell, REINZ CEO

“Much of this activity is being driven by the extremely low rates at which people can borrow money, which is at its lowest levels since records began, consumers having additional ‘cash’ available due to a lack of international travel and some uplift from returning ex-pats. When you then add in high levels of confidence in the housing market, the removal of the LVRs back in March and people’s fear that prices are just going to keep increasing in the future, then this explains why people are going to such lengths to secure a property now,” points out Norwell.

“At this point in time there are no signs on the horizon pointing to a change in the next few months, so it will be interesting to see if things slowdown in October as the election actually happens or whether sales volumes just continue rising,” she continues.

Days to sell lowest for a September month in 4 years

In September, the median number of days to sell a property nationally decreased 4 days from 36 to 32 when compared to September 2019, the lowest for the month of September in 4 years, and the lowest days to sell since March 2020 (30 days) just as COVID-19 hit New Zealand’s shores.

For New Zealand excluding Auckland, the median days to sell decreased by 5 days from 34 to 29, the lowest for the month of September in 15 years.

The Tasman District saw its lowest number of days to sell for the month of September since 2004 (27 days), less than the 10-year average for September which is 35 days.

Median price index

Median prices increased in the Nelson/Marlborough/Tasman region in September, up 15.0%, 14.2% and 7.1% respectively. The Median Price for the Tasman District this September is $675,000, 7.1% compared to this period last year and 2.3% compared to last August.

Sale volume

The Tasman District saw its highest volume of sales (104 properties) since December 2002 up 42.5%. There were 11 weeks of inventory in September 2020 which is 3 weeks less than the same time last year.

“Open home interest has remained strong throughout properties’ marketing campaign periods with pre-auction offers occurring regularly. Vendors are aware of the local and national trends and are therefore expecting a premium price for their properties. The region continues to attract out-of-towners looking to relocate or find a holiday home which has been adding pressure on demand and resulted in an increase in multi-offers. The pre-election lead up has not cooled vendor or purchaser activity and we expect these same activity levels to continue through the Christmas/New Year period.”

Source REINZ – Data from Sept 2020