Hamilton house prices rachet upward as market strengthens
Hamilton’s residential property market continues to strengthen and sale prices continue to surprise the city’s agents, sellers and buyers.
While Hamilton’s median house price hasn’t hit the $600,000 milestone yet, it is very close with the Real Estate Institute of NZ (REINZ) reporting it was $585,000 for October.
Lodge Real Estate Managing Director Jeremy O’Rourke says, “It’s been difficult in recent months to predict the final sale price of many of the homes coming onto the Hamilton market. That’s because there is so much demand in the city and multiple buyers in competition for quality properties.”
O’Rourke said it’s not unusual in the present market to have a handful of buyers vying for the same home, while for some properties the number of buyers in competition can skyrocket to double-digits.
“One of our agent’s property’s in Western Heights this past month had twenty-two offers on the table. Ten of those buyers were quickly priced out of the market leaving the other twelve to compete. And, in the end, the property sold for $20,000 over asking price.
”Another property in Woodstock sold to a developer in competition at $1.05 million when our team assumed it would go for around $950,000. We’re seeing this sort of surprising result for both entry-level and luxury homes.
”There are not too many times in a market cycle where agents find it difficult to predict the sale prices of homes, but we are now in one of those situations.
“This is good news for sellers who are looking to maximise the value of quality properties, but can be frustrating for buyers,” explains O’Rourke.
Last month, the Government’s First Home Grant coupled with new first home loan criteria available from 1 October sparked an influx of buyers into the Hamilton market.
O’Rourke says, “As predicted, this heightened first-home buyer activity in October has sent ripples through other segments of the residential market. Home owners in lower- to mid-level priced homes are using this trigger as an opportunity to sell to those new market entrants and trade up to a new, higher-priced home,” says O’Rourke.
Hamilton’s strong residential market is seeing listed homes coming on and off the market very quickly.
Jeremy O’Rourke says, “When it comes to stock, it is a hand-to-mouth situation at the moment. Buyers are hungry for quality properties and good homes don’t hang around for very long.”
According to listings on realestate.co.nz there were 633 homes available for sale in Hamilton at the start of November. This compares to 638 at the start of October and 557 at the start of September.
According to REINZ residential housing statistics, 314 homes were sold in Hamilton during October as compared to 269 in September and 299 in October 2018.
