Wellington Market Update | March 2024
A huge upsurge in houses for sale in Wellington means not only sellers have to put their best foot forward but buyers need to be on their toes, too.
That’s the advice of Tommy’s Real Sales Director Tim Clark following the release of Real Estate Institute of NZ data that showed a 148 per cent hike in January listings across the region.
“The Wellington market has seen a large number of new listings and at Tommy’s Real
Estate we have a large portion of those,” Tim says.
“So there is plenty of choice for buyers right now and sellers need to make sure they put their best foot forward to capture the buyers’ attention.
“It is more important than ever for sellers to price, present, and market their properties with a great agent – sellers are now competing with other sellers.”
However, while buyers have more choice, Tim says “this can sometimes be a bit of trap for them, in that it can make it harder to make a buying decision — buyers can find themselves forever looking rather than buying.
“So, if you like a property and you’re happy with the information provided then make an offer.”
He says the market is “much busier” than this time last year, with more offers per sale, busier open homes, more stock and more sales.
“Also, there does seem to be more confidence and certainty across the board.
“The first-home buyer market remains strong, with a lot of interest for homes under the $1.1 million mark, especially when the property is well presented.
“And the most recent announcement around interest deductibility will bring investors back to the market sooner than expected.”
Tim doesn’t expect the prospect of the Official Cash Rate staying high will hinder sales.
“Most buyers we work with have a pre-approval, which will be up to three months old, and so current interest rates have been factored into this buying budget already,” he says.
“They also keen to buy before their pre-approval expires – we hear from buyers that renewing an expired pre-approval takes a lot of time, energy, and paperwork on their part.
“We’re also seeing buyers looking to enter the market now, before prices may increase.
“Interestingly, a couple of the major banks have lowered the rates on some of their fixed rates so perhaps this maybe a sign of things to come – it will be interesting to watch.”
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