Changing times

Over the past two years we have seen a period of incredibly buoyant real estate sales throughout the country. These trends tend to be cyclical in nature, and indications are that we are now entering a more conservative phase. 

As is the case across NZ, we’ve recently seen a large reduction in the number of active buyers in the market, and those buyers are now more concerned about overpaying. Last year, it was normal to have multiple buyers per property, but now we are seeing around 1-2 per property.

All that being said, we’re not seeing the price reductions that are being experienced in the likes of Auckland and Wellington. Why is that? The fact is that stock levels of both homes and bare land in our area are low — so even with fewer active buyers, we’re still seeing good levels of interest for property.

For many years, we dealt with an oversupply of sections in the Far North. But although there is plenty of vacant land around, very little has been developed into sections over the past 10 years. (Thankfully at least one enterprising developer is about to release some new, very high-quality sections — see more on Hunter Estate below.) In addition, while speculation has over-inflated prices in other markets, that’s not something we’ve really seen up here over the past decade. People have been buying and selling for good reasons. The combination of tight supply and solid market fundamentals has kept prices in our area stable, even while they fall elsewhere in the country.

In short, it’s a good time to buy in the Far North — but it’s still a good time to sell. It’s one of the more evenly-weighted markets we’ve seen in some time.

 

Local spotlight: An exciting new development in Coopers Beach

Hunter Estate

Jack Sutton is a patient man. He had eyes on the piece of land he’s transformed into Hunter Estate for twenty years, and when it finally came on the market he snapped it up within a week. He had a vision: a gentle cascade of perfectly flat sections, beautifully contoured, overlooking neighbouring Taumarumaru Scenic Reserve and having easy access to Coopers Beach just footsteps away.

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