Coromandel housing market still holding up
According to data from several sources released last week, the residential property market on the Coromandel Peninsula is still holding up.
Ray White Real Estate’s review of the first quarter of 2022, 1 January to 31 March, indicated that prices in Whitianga remained strong, mainly due to a continued shortage of listings. The median house price came in at $1,004,000. The figure published for the first quarter of 2021 was $850,000, an increase of $154,000.
The most recent figures published by real estate website, realestate.co.nz, for April 2022 has the average asking price for the Coromandel Peninsula at $1,304,250, a staggering increase of 20.4 percent on the previous month. In terms of asking price, this increase turned the Coromandel into the second most expensive property market in New Zealand, only behind the Central Otago/Lakes area on $1,423,036 and ahead of Auckland on $1,234,148.
During the first quarter of this year, 33 houses sold in Whitianga under $1m, 24 houses sold between $1m and $2m, five houses sold between $2m and $3m, and one house sold over $3m.
All seven the properties sold in Hahei attracted a price tag of more than $1,700,000, with $5,300,000 the highest price achieved. In Cooks Beach, nine properties were sold, two of which were vacant sections. Of the dwellings sold, the lowest sale price was $1,195,000 and the highest $3,300,000.
Thirty-seven properties sold from Whangapoua to Kuaotunu, many of them vacant sections in Matarangi. The most expensive property in Whangapoua sold for $1,500,000. In Matarangi, five properties changed hands for more than $1m, the most expensive for $1,750,000. The only property that sold in Kuaotunu attracted a sale price of $1,520,000. In Opito Bay, the most expensive property sold for $1,611,000.
The CoreLogic House Price Index published on Tuesday last week, indicated that house prices fell 0.8 percent during the course of last month, which was the first decline since August 2020. The downturn is mainly affecting the cities. Prices in Auckland fell 2.5 percent and in Wellington the decline was 1.5 percent. According to realestate.co.nz, Wellington tipped into a buyer’s market in March this year and Auckland followed last month.
Vanessa Williams, spokesperson for realestate.co.nz, says there is still plenty of demand from buyers, but the heat has come out of the market. “We have become accustomed to urgency in the market with multi-offers and high competition being the norm,” she said. “Right now, however, buyers have more time to do their due diligence and make an educated decision on their future property.”
At the end of last month, the number of properties available for sale nationally was 27,050, an increase of 70.8 percent compared to April 2021. On the Coromandel, only 312 properties were on the market.
The national inventory of listings - the time it would take to sell all properties on the market should there be no new listings - stood at 20 weeks, still six weeks below the realestate.co.nz long-term average of 26 weeks. On the Coromandel, it would take 21 weeks to clear all stock, about three months longer than the nine weeks recorded in December 2021, but still well below the long-term average of 109 weeks. According to realestate.co.nz this is indicative of the Coromandel still experiencing a strong seller’s market.