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Sell with us- 2nd Apr 2023
An expert perspective on the property market
Mark Harris, Co-Founder and MD of New Zealand Sotheby's International Realty, has his finger on the pulse of real estate, overseeing a brand that operates in the country's key property territories. In Perspectives, Mark talks about the trends and key changes taking place across New Zealand's real estate market.
In March, a game of two halves
"If you read a lot of the media at the moment its difficult to determine where the market is headed as we’re seeing wildly differing reports and forecasts. Through one lens there is doom and gloom and through the other there’s positivity and productivity."
For the full commentary, watch Perspectives March 2023 here.
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March transcript
If you read a lot of the media at the moment its difficult to determine where the market is headed as we’re seeing wildly differing reports and forecasts. Through one lens there is doom and gloom and through the other there’s positivity and productivity.
So let’s take a look at the data.
The REINZ statistics from February is also a game of two halves. The median price dropped 13.9% from 2022 figures, yet gained in most regions month on month.
The volume of sales in February is down from last year, which is understandable considering recent events such as Cyclone Gabrielle, but again, the numbers were up 40.4% from January.
The number of properties for sale has grown, but are still historically quite low. In summary the indicators hint at a steadying market and our own figures support that.
In the wider economic context, the forces are also volatile. The economy shrunk 0.6% last quarter, we have high interest rates and constrained labour market. But on the flip side, the economy is 2.2% bigger than this time last year, there’s a return to net migration and high interest rates are starting to cool. Again, a game of two halves.
Another indicator is the Australian market, which we often shadow due to the similar banking environment we operate in. The upper end of the Sydney market has held steady throughout the downtown, recent auction clearance rates are looking good and there are signs the bottom of the cycle has been and gone.
Our indicator of market health is the quality of sales we are transacting; properties that are well and widely marketed, accurately priced and represented by high quality agents are turning over. As the quality of recent sales show, we continue to sell homes at good prices by exposing property to the biggest and most engaged buyer audiences.
This month we launched our new home online nzsothebysrealty.com. The design brief was to make your online property search experience a premium one, just like you would get in person with us, I hope you’ll agree we achieved that.
That’s it for this month’s Perspectives, have a great Easter and we will see you n