Napier home sales recover
A recovery in Napier home sales appears to have been led by an increasing number of active first home buyers encouraged by an easing in lending constraints.
The average number of Napier home sales during the past year is sitting at 82 sales, which is 15% below the 10 year average. During the past 3 months sales turnover has shown signs of recovering to levels approximating that 10 year average level.
This recovery appears to have been led by an increasing number of active first home buyers, encouraged by an easing in interest rates and softening lending constraints. New Kiwisaver rules for settlements after 1st April 2015 are enabling larger KiwiSaver withdrawals for first home purchases.
As a result the turnover of homes below $300,000 his risen significantly by 18% during the past year, while the turnover of homes selling above $500,000 has fallen by 15%.
The April sales result eased back to 91. The primary constraint appears to be the availability of appropriately priced homes in reasonable locations. The available listing stock has fallen to approximately 5.8 months supply, and this is helping rebalance the market in favour of sellers, particularly in the market segments where competition is strongest (i.e. below $300,000).
Overall the Quotable Value monthly price index for April 2015 shows a small improvement in prices of 1.6% compared to the previous year. The quarterly price index indicates that current prices are sitting at around 3.1% below the 2007/2008 market peak.
There has also been a small improvement in the average days to sell, however it is still taking between 7 and 8 weeks to find a buyer for a home in Napier. The length of time to sell is acutely dependent on the appropriate pricing strategy.
The Reserve Bank recently announced measures explicitly targeting Auckland property investors in an effort to cool the country’s largest market. At the same time the Bank acknowledged that housing market pressures around the rest of the country are generally subdued. As a result, the Bank has lifted the speed limit on low deposit (<20% deposit) lending outside of Auckland from 10% to 15% of new mortgages, irrespective of whether the buyer is an investor or owner-occupier.
If you want more detailed information and analysis of the Napier Real Estate Market please contact Cox Partners on (06) 835-4321.
Napier: Number of Sales
Napier: Median Price
