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.

Manger's Comments - Feb 2014

January saw the NP market continue in light volumes with only 64 sales in the city. One up on the year long low of December. The issue here seems to be stock. We simply don’t have enough property to sell. Those few properties languishing on the market are suffering from a ‘full expectation’ by their sellers – fuller than the market is prepared to pay. We have buyers in all price brackets, but they have been highly educated these last couple of years. They know values. Their bankers know values. Our local property pricing will not be changing much if at all in the medium term future. Further out than that no one knows. Our market seems as set in its core valuations as it ever was. Buyers know this, and the successful sellers also.

John Christiansen

TaranakiHarcourts.co.nz push for Number 1 on line is really taking hold. Statistics for January on Google searches for Taranaki & New Plymouth real estate using many categories and prhases located taranakiharcourts.co.nz website 150 times in the number one position. Our closest competitor was located 8 times. That makes taranakiharcourts.co.nz a staggering 1875% more ‘findable’ than our next competitor. When you want to ‘fish where the fish are’ it is essential to have your property listed on taranakiharcourts.co.nz. This is something you really made the right decision about, and your property is being marketed to buyers in the most efficient way possible in these digital times.

John Christiansen

Manager's Comments 14-10-13

Well the Council has a very new look about it. I wonder how much difference this will all make in the end? I thought our old Council actually did rather well considering all the wonderful amenities and facilities we enjoy – the reason most of us stay here. Time will tell. The new Council will have a bearing on local property values, these go up and down (temporarily) because of supply and demand. There really is no other driver when it comes down to it. All the other factors do is help shape supply and demand. The high demand in NP at present is directly related to: A: it is a lovely place to live and our lifestyle is enhanced by what NP offers. We want to be here. B: employment demands, currently in the energy and engineering sectors. Council has a direct effect on how attractive NP is to us in many ways. I just hope they don’t find it necessary to make too much change. Is it really broken? Current demand to live here doesn’t support that view. Change the bath water by all means, but let’s keep the baby. Let’s also keep the high demand for NP property. Several bidders took our latest auction last week over the reserve again. Seller and buyer were both very happy with this simple but effective process. If you haven’t yet fully considered auction, discuss it with your agent today and take that advantage. John Christiansen

Market steady with little sign of growth

Managers Comments 15.9.13 Our market is steady and showing little sign of growth in value or number of sales. August saw a very slight increase in sales, up 5 over July, and the median price up 3.8%, both figures negligible, well within our normal monthly variations. The buyers are still active, but they are also very much more wary of the many factors that will impact on this market in coming months. Interest rates will rise, it’s just a matter of when. More listings and therefore more buyer choice will come with spring and summer, which always happens. Banks, governed by the new Reserve Bank regulations, are now forced to be more selective in who they loan to. All this adds up to a very definite buyer’s market. To be quite blunt, the longer buyers wait the better off they will be. More choice, greater certainty over borrowing costs, but little if any added to the price because of capital growth meantime. What does this mean for our sellers? It means that we need to take the opportunities that arise. It means that Auction, with the present relative stock shortage, is a real option to consider. It also means that waiting offers no advantage. We have to deal in the now because this is how it is at the present time. John Christiansen

Support Package Welcomed but Supply Remains Low

Harcourts CEO Hayden Duncan comments on the Government's package to better support the first home buyer...

http://news.harcourts.net/news/support-package-welcome-but-low-supply-remains/

Manager's Comments 8-8-13

New Plymouth is featured in the August edition of NZ PROPERTY INVESTOR. The article is very positive and bullish about the New Plymouth property market and the two big drivers here, Milk and Oil. Some of the telling statistics: Taranaki with 2.5% of New Zealand’s population we account for 4.2% of GDP, just over $8billion. Her 110,100 people run 14,458 businesses employing 49,201 people. Taranaki’s GDP per person is $73,200, the highest in the country. New Plymouth’s 73,500 people therefore produce $5.4billion. Things are happening here. Voted the world’s best small city in 2008, we boast a high 2433 hours of sunshine (2012). Maybe this is why so few are selling currently, while more buyers than properties are the norm. That brings me to the point of all this digital detail. If you are not achieving a good level of interest in your property in this market there is a problem. Talk to your Harcourts agent, they know how to fix it.