Queenstown Property Sale Figures Rebound Strongly In January 2014

Date: 7th March 2014 by Tim Medland

Following what was largely described as a slow-down in the second half of 2013 after a promising first half, 2014 started with a hiss and a roar. From August to December 2013, real estate commentators saw in most indicators, including a 16% drop it the number of residential sales compared to the last five months of 2012, the result of uncertainty generated by the new LVR (loan-to-value-ratio) rules.
With January 2014 reaching 54 residential sales for the district compared to 34 in January 2012, the question marks that overshadowed late 2013 have now been erased. With the five and ten year averages for January at 36 and 49 respectively there are even more reasons to regard January sales as an encouraging sign.
As commented by local spokesman for REINZ Kevin Collins, first home buyers may have been waiting to see if the LVR rules were going to have a lasting impact on the market. Some may have expected values to start heading south.
However, as we reminded you in our article last month, strong population growth for our district is likely to keep the pressure on demand, resulting in values holding their ground.
Other indicators confirm the sense of urgency that buyers are showing, with the average time to sell a property dropping to 39 days in January 2014 compared to 57 in January 2013. Understandably, some buyers will be keen to access fixed interest rates at the currently “reasonable” level, before the inevitable rise.
The median sales price remains below the $550 mark, at $512,500 compared to $562,500 in January 2013. Once again it is noticeable that a huge part of the purchasing activity is at entry level, with no less than 19 unit titled dwellings sold in January, and over 85% of them sold below $450,000.
The 6 months average is still strong at 280 sales compared to 287 for the same period last year and 222 the year before. The 12 months average has rebounded with January, showing a positive trend with 619 sales compared to the 585 sales of last year or the 460 sales generated in the previous year.
Please note that these numbers do not include sales generated by the developers themselves. Shotover Country subdivision and 22 Hallenstein Street are 2 good examples where substantial sales activity has occurred.
And finally a big jump in the overall value of properties sold in January with 40.9 M, almost double last years $21.4 M and $27.1M for the previous January. This is a good reminder that added to the numerous entry level sales, a few sales above 1.5M make a huge difference on a monthly basis.

Posted in: Statistics