Harcourts’ statistics for June 2009 show the New Zealand property market is continuing to experience significantly higher levels of sales activity than 12 months ago.

Within Harcourts New Zealand there was an average of 30.8% more written sales made in June 2009 than in the same month last year, continuing the trend we have been reporting for some months.

The largest increases were in Harcourts’ Central region, where we recorded a 58% increase in written sales, followed by Harcourts Northern region (51% up), Harcourts’ Christchurch region (34% up) and Harcourts Wellington region (29% up).

The increase in sales coupled with lower than expected numbers of new listings is seeing buyers experiencing considerable competition when looking to secure a new property and in an effort to capitalise on this increasing numbers of sellers are choosing auction campaigns, which according to feedback from Harcourts offices around the country is proving to be the most successful method of sale.

In terms of residential property prices, the competition evident over recent months has seen price levels stabilise and has resulted in some of the more pessimistic commentators publicly revising their predictions about house price movement over the months ahead.

Interestingly, demand for residential sections appears to be reigniting in many locations.  Many Harcourts offices are reporting a considerable increase in enquiry in these types of property, with some experiencing a lift in section sales already and others expecting this to occur in the near future.

This trend is to be expected given the lack of houses for sale and the fact that the availability of tradespeople has improved and they are typically more negotiable on price too.

Meanwhile,  it’s not as rosy in the rural property market where there has been a significant drop in the volume of sales and a drop in prices too.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 8:24 am and is filed under New Zealand, Real Estate Industry Comment, Real Estate Market Comment, Real+Estate. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.