[Yogi]

Hi,

Just looked on realenz for first time in ages, almost nothing with a price on any more. What happened? Is the NZ property market in a particular state of flux at the moment?

Cheers,

Yogi.

[Moorf]

More and more properties are going via auction... it seems to be a sellers market here, at least in Chch it is... people putting in silly offers, reminds me of the Scottish market a couple of years ago.

[Wannaway]

The message we have been getting here in Auckland is that it is becoming increasingly a "buyer's market" (unbelievably a local estate agent said this to us). What this means I don't know, seems to be less houses coming on the market and still fewer being sold.

The market is becoming a bit thin and I don't think Estate Agents have a clue what people are currently prepared to pay for property. Also get the feeling vendors are not hearing what they want to hear when it comes to likely sales values, so they go to auction to (hopefully) trigger a bidding process to maximise price (the auction process also helps Estate Agent as it starts to give them a feel for the buyers market v the vendors market and the gap between the two). It seems more and more houses going through the auction process are not meeting the "reserve", I think this is because vendors have unrealistical expectations of the market (ie they are being greedy). Interestingly the Herald runs a piece every Monday on recent house sales, usually pick out 5 that have occurred recently. This week they featured 5 props, all on auction, of which only 1 sold because the others did not meet their reserve. As a straw poll doesn't that suggest some disconnect between buyers and sellers? Also, one property had previously been sold in Jan 04 for $640k. At the auction the price "only" got to $680k and therefore was not sold as it "got nowhere near the reserve". From what we could see the vendor had not undertaken any major work on the property, if they had sold at $680k they would still have made a healthy 6.25% return (tax free but excluding exorbitant agent fees) but they expected more, much more by the sounds of it. Now thats just stupid, wages and salaries are seriously lagging behind here (one of the major unions wants a 5% increase and even that level of increase has caused a few intakes of breath), how can property keep going up by so much when wages etc have not been keeping pace for so long now? An element of it is just greed and unwillingness to accept that the property market has got way out of step with economic reality.

[Moorf]

Interesting, but not so here - the guys we are buying off are having to go into rental cos they can't get in an offer quick enough on another property or can't buy at auction as the prices go mad - Tanya and Richard went to an auction the other day where the property was priced at $360k went for $480k !! I guess Chch is still on the up, for the time being.

[Wannaway]

Went to see a property new to the market last weekend. I swear the Estate Agent starting salivating when she heard our English accents. Anyway, went back for a second look, voiced a few concerns etc. My wife says "Not sure we should be buying now, property market seems on the turn", to which blondie-tops reply was "This is what we call a balanced market, where vendors and buyers are agreeing the right price for their property", you could almost smell the desperation! Ha ha ha, I am not a mean spirited person generally, but I make exceptions for Estate Agents (particurlarly ones driving around in sporty little Audi soft tops).

[Wannaway]

Forgot to say, Miss Estate Agent rang my wife the next day to say that they were expecting an offer from another party so we needed to get our skates on as she "wanted us to have the property". Cheers love, don't mind if I do. Oh, when you say you want us to "have" the property you mean in exchange for 3/4million bucks. Oh, really want you want is the $20+k commission coming your way for us be your buyer.