Manager's Comments 24-11-14

The count down to Christmas begins. A month to go till Christmas Eve, when the world stops for a well earned breather, not to recommence the business of house buying until about Monday 13^th January 2015. In the interim we have Christmas and New Year, very busy family and social time. Buyers are thinking about other things. This year we should be busy with buyers until Monday 21^st or maybe the 22^nd of December. After that, not much. On the up side for sellers is the last Harcourts BluePrint of the year published 20 December. This will be a bumper issue and will have an extended shelf life. The next publication is not until 10 January, 3 weeks later. We do accommodate a number of expats in our city over Christmas and we are now becoming a ‘destination’, and there will be many out of town visitors. They will be interested in property and will browse the available advertising. That is, our last BluePrint. Talk to your agent about extending your profile in the last issue. Doubling the size of your presence in the BluePrint will be a good investment with 3 times the exposure before another publication is out.

John Christiansen

Manager's Comments 10-11-14

A story in the Daily News last week and the NZ Herald last weekend, cites the success and growth of the greater New Plymouth real estate market. We are one of the only areas outside Auckland and Christchurch to have capital gains of over 5% since the height of the previous strong run in 2007. Nelson was the other. I’m not sure about Nelson, but I can give some insight into New Plymouths seemingly amazing figures.

In the ‘flush’ of 2006/7 very good volumes of sales were taking place right across the board. Our first few million dollar sales, and a good strong showing in all the price ranges below that. Volumes were very strong. Over those years averaging 94 sales per month, up to 123 in May 2007. In September 2014 there were 68 sales. 27.7% less. Over 1 quarter of our sales volume has gone. So to get our median up to the present $346,250, we have had an unusual weight of high price sales dragging the median up to 2007 levels. In 2007 there were 27.7%, or 23 sales per month more on average. Those were solid numbers and not distorted so much by the few high prices achieved, as statistics are now in much lighter volumes. Our market suffers from a severe lack of stock. About half the number of properties are available on the market now than in 2007. Don’t get carried away with current price medians, they have little substance in steady volume. It would be fair to say that apart from the very top end in exclusive locations, the value of individual houses in New Plymouth has not exceeded 2007 levels.

John Christiansen

Manager's Comments 26-9-14

We have seen a market increase in buyer activity, offers and sales during September. Why? We wish we knew. This started prior to the election, no particular good news or market anomaly appears to have sparked this interest. Now with a settled political outlook, daylight saving and warmer longer days we can only expect this trend to continue to build. What has been constant with buyers throughout is that they know the market, they know where they see value, and they stick to what they know when making offers. What I am saying is more buyer interest is welcome, but prices remain constant and in order to sell, vendors still need to meet the market.

John Christiansen

Managers' Comments 15-9-14

There is a marked increase in new listings over the past 3-4 weeks. Spring has sprung to mind for many who are looking at getting into this market now to capitalize on the dearth of good properties.   Currently there are only half the properties for sale in New Plymouth than would normally be expected at this time of the year. This slight increase will free the market up somewhat and provide competition for those already listed for sale. We are still experiencing a good level of buyer activity, but given more good houses to chose from, that may be dissipated somewhat. Consider this when your offer comes. Meantime, longer days, better weather and more overall activity will be a good thing.

John Christiansen

Manager's Comments 4-8-14

People ask me, how would you go about selling your house? Obviously they realize that after 25 years on the job, 10 years leading New Plymouths most successful sales team, I will have a good idea of what works best. They’re right, I do. The fact is, I am selling my house. It’s a really good house in a top location. I will miss living there. However, for the foreseeable future we have decided apartment living will suit us better, and so the sale is on. Like all vendors I want it all. I want the opportunity to gain any market premium available. I want the best agents working for me. I want some urgency and certainty, I want a sale date. To achieve all this I engaged a top agent and one of our auctioneers, and we go to auction late this month. I know the very best negotiator, the auctioneer, will control proceedings to my advantage. The promotion and pre auction sales activity will be far superior to other selling procedures. I understand when the sale is made, the hammer drops, I will have a cash, unconditional contract with a full deposit paid. I will be on my way, moving to the next little chapter in my life. The stress and anxiety will be less knowing I am doing everything possible to facilitate a smooth and successful sale. I will be walking the walk.

John Christiansen

Manager's Comments 26-5-14

This last week the Harcourts New Plymouth office had 3361 hits to our NP property listings on www.realestate.co.nz, now the country’s biggest real estate site. We will have had more than double that number on all our sights combined; www.taranakiharcourts.co.nz, www.harcourts.co.nz, www.open2view.co.nz. 85% of buyers make first contact with the real estate market on line now, and that number is growing. Of them, now over half do it on a smart phone or tablet. Instant information anywhere, that is the market we deal with. You will note all our print ads now contain only 1 photo and a prominent QR code. The QR code is a direct link to that specific property on line, where between 12-25 more photos, a floor plan and video tour are listed. Print advertising now promotes the vastly more detailed media for the property information. The Internet. That’s why we spend so much effort to maintain our position, number 1 on line. Because, we know that’s where people are looking.