Lisa and John Kerr put their three-bedroom home in The Lakes on the market last month and it sold within 10 days. Photo / George Novak
Lisa and John Kerr put their three-bedroom home in The Lakes on the market last month and it sold within 10 days. Photo / George Novak
Houses are selling more than twice as fast as they were five years ago, while the number of sales have jumped nearly 50 per cent from the same time last year.
An extra 94 homes sold across Tauranga, Mount Maunganui and Papamoa last month compared to June 2014.
The 48 per cent leap in sales comes off the back of May - the busiest month of sales in eight years - and marks yet another healthy month for Tauranga's housing market.
The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand's figures for June 2015 showed that in Tauranga alone, sales increased 49.6 per cent from 119 sales to 178.
Across the bridge in Mount Maunganui and Papamoa, sales jumped 45.5 per cent from 77 to 112. Stronger demand versus supply in Mount Maunganui and Papamoa saw the number of days to sell a house continue to drop - plummeting from 71 days in June 2011 to only 31 days last month, according to figures from the Institute.
The number of days to sell a house in Tauranga also dropped from an average of 65 days in June 2011 to 32 days last month.
Tauranga couple Lisa and John Kerr put their three-bedroom home in the Lakes on the market last month and it sold within 10 days.
Mrs Kerr said they never expected their home in The Lakes to sell so fast.
They could not believe it when they received an offer "well over" its valuation after only 10 days listed with Eves. "We accepted it that night," she said.
The house had sold for much more than they had paid for it a year earlier, she said.
Eves and Bayleys Real Estate chief executive Ross Stanway said last month proved the days of slow winter months were long gone. "Demand is very, very high," he said. "I think this has been a very warm winter in the property market."
Tauranga Harcourts general manager Nigel Martin said the number of days to sell was the lowest it had been in "many, many years".
"To be down in those early 30s really shows what's going on out there. It's gone below the national average," he said.
The national average was about 34 days, while Auckland hit an average of 29 days to sell last month, he said.
"Stock levels are obviously causing that ... That's just a lack of supply really."
Anton Jones, owner of First National in Tauranga, Mount Maunganui and Omokoroa, said his staff had been "flat out" across all areas.
"We do more [sales] over in Tauranga and it's certainly very busy."
In First National's experience, there was a huge amount of activity in the Avenues, as well as Bellevue and Bethlehem.
"They seem to be the hot spots in our view," he said, "But I don't think there's an area that's not selling.
I don't think there's an area that's not selling.
Mount Maunganui and Papamoa Ray White Realty Focus franchise owner Greg Purcell said the high sales numbers meant "what is out there is largely being sold".
Auckland buyers were "certainly a large factor", he said.
"We're a by-product of the Auckland market. We're close enough to Auckland to be a real stomping ground for them."
The competitive market was resulting in people making faster decisions in order to not miss out on an opportunity, he said.
Real Estate Institute chief executive Colleen Milne said there was increasing evidence that Aucklanders were looking out of the region for properties - as owner-occupiers and for investment properties.
"Regions such as Northland and Waikato/Bay of Plenty have recorded significant drops in the volume of properties for sale over the past six months, with Aucklanders increasingly being identified as a significant buying group in these regions," she said.
