First home buyers, downsizers make up market

While the Cost of Living crisis is on buyers’ minds when looking to purchase a new home, it hasn’t impacted greatly on sales in the Hauraki, a local realtor has said.
Instead, the main influence on the market that agents have seen has been the increase of the number of properties available, and buyers taking more time to commit to a property.
Richardsons Real Estate Paeroa and Ngatea branch manager Rhys Carmichael told The Profile that since the beginning of the year, he and his team have seen the number of sales remain steady – and in a lot of towns, increase.
“Especially with properties priced under $650,000,” he said.
“We have seen a lot of enquiry from first home buyers and retirees looking to downsize, and this is consistent with the price category we are seeing being the most active.
“While the higher-end properties are taking longer to sell than those priced below $650,000, we are still receiving genuine enquiry on these properties, but are also more likely to have agreements conditional on the sale of a property out of the area.”
Rhys said while the Cost of Living Crisis was a factor people were being mindful of when looking to purchase, it was not the main contributing factor to the change in the market.
However, he was continuing to see banks being cautious when lending, in order to ensure buyers’ affordability.
Also, buyers and their advisers were being more critical of properties to make sure it is “100 per cent the right property for them”, he said.
On the Richardsons Real Estate website, there were 14 properties listed in Paeroa and 27 properties listed for the Hauraki Plains, which included Ngatea, Kerepehi, and Turua.
A three-bedroom, 632 m2 was for sale in Kerepehi for $440,000; while in Paeroa, a three-bedroom, 506 m2 partially-redecorated villa was on the market for $435,000.
There were only three properties with prices above $650,000 in Paeroa, and 17 houses above $650,000 in Hauraki.
Rhys reminded buyers to talk to their local agent about the market and the true value of a property, as digital price guides on websites were only “vague indications” and often did not take into account the full detail of a specific property.
“Which in some situations, leaves these ‘estimated values’ being unsubstantiated and providing
buyers with false opinions of the value of the property,” he said.