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April saw a drop in the amount of New Listings nationally but demand is still very strong reinforcing the previous month of a seller’s market. Realestate.co.nz’s monthly housing report for April said despite heated market conditions in specific parts of the country, mainly Auckland where the asking price jumped from $559,369 in March to $568,820 in April.

Realestate.co.nz CEO Alister Helm said the more muted numbers for April also put splashed cold water on the contention that the New Zealand housing market was headed back into bubble territory. He said while property sales were strong for the latest month’s data, for March they did not show a seasonally adjusted increase.

“This indicates that the market would appear not to be diving headlong into a property bubble, but rather is seeing a steady turnover and pragmatic buying and selling in the main.”

Despite an anticipated slow down over the next three months, realestate.co.nz is forecasting an increase in asking prices as “demand flows through to vendor expectations.” “Clearly there are pockets of the market where there is not quite this degree of balance.”

The inventory of unsold homes, which saw a four year low in March, eased slightly in April.

 Ashburton’s rental shortage is hitting an all time high with landlords reaping the benefits of the shortage in terms of rising rent prices and in increasing selectiveness over tenants. In Saturday’s Guardian there were just four houses to rent, ranging in price from $220 for a two bedroom unit to $360 for a three bedroom home. While there were several listings on Trademe, many had availability dates that were several weeks old.

Today sees the end of and era, Tony Sands of Harcourts Ashburton hangs his hat in the Real Estate Industry and moves onto greener pastures. No matter which way you look at it Tony definitely left an impact on the real estate industry in Ashburton and has set the bar high for all that follow. I wish him well with his future endeavours. Good Luck Tony

I know this has nothing to do with Real Estate but we are quite proud to have one of our own Ashburtonians make it into the top 10 of Master Chef New Zealand.

If you watch Master Chef New Zealand you may know that we had a contestant from little old Ashburton on there. Chantelle O’Brien owner of Twelve Wine Lounge & Tapas Bar on Tancred St.

Unfortunately though on Tuesday night, her journey ended. In the 3 seasons that the show has been running she is the first Mid-Cantabrian to make it this far.

Well done for making it to the top 8 on Master Chef New Zealand Chantelle.

Hey guys, just trying out a video format for keeping you informed with weekly updates. Have a great Easter be safe and try not to over indulge in the sweet stuff!

Any feedback would be appreciated. (be kind )

Houses in Ashburton were changing hands in greater numbers and in faster time for the month of August than any other month this year. But the median house sale price was down from $264,500 to $241,000 according to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand’s figures.  

The other market commentator Quotable Value measures prices as an average over three months. It put the district’s property market in a better light, giving a three-month average sale price of $268,390 which was a 2.3per cent growth over July’s average.  

To say that it is a buyers or sellers market at the moment who can be really sure, however, what I do know is that the houses on the market that are well presented and priced accordingly are flying of the proverbial shelf. We have sellers that are getting close or better than what they expected for their properties and the buyers are happy with their purchasers. So to me it is currently a WIN WIN market for seller and buyer.

  Read my It Pays to “Think Forward” when Buying

There was a fantastic initiative held in the Ashburton District over the weekend that being the Great Living Legends Muck-In. This is a nationwide Muck-In that aims to plant 85,000 native trees across the country at the same time celebrating New Zealand’s Rugby Legends.

 Ashburton’s part in the plan was to plant 2,500 native trees at the Harris Scientific Reserve the guest of honour being our very own ex-All Black Jock Ross.

Close to 200 people showed up on the day with spades and gloves in hand ready to work, which goes to show that the good old country town community spirit is still alive and kicking, at least in Ashburton.

Proof that many hands make light work was evident with the planting being completed by lunch time, after which a sausage sizzle was held and everyone gathered around for a chat.

All in all it was a good family day out, kids got to meet a Living Legend at the same time as learning about conservation efforts going on around Ashburton and the Ashburton District which will benefit from the work completed for years to come.

Pictures by Ashburton Online you can view more pictures from the day here 

Interesting video from Alistair Helm over at realestate.co.nz.

Using the data he has gathered from his website for July he paints excellent picture of the current market.

He has noted that the number of new listings on the site is down  along with the overall listing numbers on the site.

“The level of new listings coming onto the market in July fell again to 8,966. This represented a 15% year-on-year decline but a marginal 1% seasonally adjusted rise from June”.

At the same time interest from buyers is up and time to sell is shortening, all signs of a developing sellers market. what is interesting and Alistair mentions in his clip is how although it is a sellers market the overall asking prices have edged down not up as you might expect in a sellers market, he suspects the lower asking prices and low interest rates are what might be driving this increased activity.

You can view the full report  for July here

or download the printable version here

I’m sure you will have been following the Reserve Bank Governor’s comments and he’s on record as saying while he must ensure the country doesn’t overspend thus driving inflation….he is firm of the view that he will not increase interest rates until the economy is moving ahead again and he doesn’t see that as a likelihood until well into 2012.

At the same time, economist, Rodney Dickens has come out suggesting the whole approach to interest rate management of the Reserve Bank is failed! Yes, he believes a stable approach with semi-fixed OCR rates delivering market rates of around 6% would allow the entire banking community and the New Zealand commercial and private communities to plan medium to long term…..something this country has not been able to deliver since the dollar was floated.

Goodness! Management! Long term planning! Stability! What an interesting
set of options!

As we head into a belated mid-winter period when history says the real estate market should be slowing it’s intriguing to note the opposite! Yes, across the country my colleagues are reporting increased sales compared with earlierthis year and last year same time and competition for better presented properties.

I know I’ve said it before but I make no apologies; it’s the tidy, clean, stylish and well priced properties that are attracting the interest and the better ones are being fought over by several buyers. Those top properties in each suburb,size or price sector are attracting all the interest while those that present less well are being left well alone, marooned on the market for months.

We also note, again across the country, that first home buyers and investors are battling over lower priced options.