The Real Estate Market at the moment

Is there a good or a bad time to sell my property?

In New Zealand, there is no good or bad time, if the time is right for you then it is a good time.

Now, is it the best period to get the top price for my property?

Worldwide, the rule is the same for all markets:

• If there is less products and a lot of demand : The price grows.
• If there is lot of products and not much demand : The price drops.

Same with houses.

Ok, so is there a particular time of the year I should sell?

As follows you can see there are 4 major buyer spikes:

• January is dropping each year with the number of sales; New Zealanders go on holiday mid-December to mid-January, they don't want to hunt for houses at that time, neither buying at the warmest time of the year, houses will appear dry when they have moisture issues the rest of the year. Therefore, the prices and number of sales are affected.
• March; the end of the financial year helps buyers to see their budget, it is Autumn and houses still get nice sun exposure.
• May; buyers paid their taxes and are looking for a warmer home to spend the winter, less chances to miss out on moisture issues with the outside temperature.
• November; buyers who missed out in May will wait the end of winter to hunt again.
  
  

So when should I buy?

It will depends on why you are looking to buy a property.

Is it because of the rental increase or because or the interest rates dropping?

But something you should consider is the longer you wait, the higher the prices might become:

So, are you looking for a dry home? Go house hunting in Winter. You will have less competition with the other buyers and more chances to see if the house has any issues. But! There might be less houses available on the market.

NOW, LET'S TALK ON THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 THIS YEAR.

Our experts at Harcourts think there will be a recession around October this year 2020 due to the impact of the Covid-19.

We hope it won’t be the case…

There are a few facts to consider:

• Owners who lost their job/company and cannot afford to repay their mortgage.
• People losing their savings.
• The difficulty to find tenants before/during winter.
• Couples who broke up during the quarantine.
• Deceased owners directly or indirectly affected by the pandemic movement.
• The interest rates dropping but the difficulty to get a mortgage this year.
• The fear of the virus coming back.
• Migration dropping.
• Travel delays.

International migrant flow has a significant impact on house price movements and construction activity in New Zealand. The housing-boom of the early-2000s including the strong house price rise from 2012 to 2019 was strongly associated with strong immigration.

And this could be a big factor by the end of this year as New Zealand keeps adapting its laws around immigration even during the Level 4. Australia, among other countries, has been encouraging all temporary visa holders to leave Australia. And we know how New Zealand and Australia influence each other!

As you guess, this could cause a significant price drop on the selling market in the near future.

Visas have been extended to all temporary visa holders until September this year. The immigration department is already overflowing with applications and nobody knows what their decision will be.

Neither how traveling in and out will be affected in the next year.

These are facts but no-one can know for sure what can happen in future. It is just MY understanding of the future market at the moment and facts to take in consideration.

My advise will be DO NOT WAIT to SELL. You could get a top price NOW on your property and the longer you are waiting and the more risk you are taking to see a significant drop in prices.