Houses now selling via email

House values in Tauranga City have jumped 7.7 per cent year-on-year and 3 per cent over the past three months.

Increasing house values across Tauranga and the Western Bay are showing no signs of slowing - with reports of Aucklanders now buying via email before seeing the property.

Average house values in Tauranga City have continued their upward trend seen over the past few months, rising 7.7 per cent year-on-year and 3 per cent over the past three months, the latest report from QV says.

Values in the Western Bay of Plenty have also risen by 5.9 per cent since July last year and 3.3 per cent over the past three months.

Nigel Martin

QV homevalue Tauranga Registered Valuer David Hume said investors from Auckland continued to be very active in the market.

"Homes in affordable parts of the city are being snapped up by out-of-town investors looking for good yields.

"There are reports of Aucklanders making offers over email, and homes being bought sight unseen and without market valuation or building reports.

"Demand in the regional towns such as Te Puke continues to grow as first-home buyers priced out of the rising Tauranga market look further afield for homes still in an achievable price bracket."

Karen Worley

Karen Worley, group sales and marketing manager for Eves and Bayleys, said 30 per cent of their house sales in July were to Aucklanders.

There were people in the financial position to buy that were just missing out because of a lack of stock, she said.

"Last week we had a buyer in our auction room who had missed out on five properties."

Aucklanders moving down and first-home buyers making the most of low interest rates were fuelling the demand, she said.

Investors were now looking further afield to Te Puke and Rotorua.

"They are looking for a good return.

"When they're not getting it in Tauranga because of the high values, they're looking in Te Puke and Rotorua," she said.

Tauranga Harcourts general manager Nigel Martin said he could see no signs of the market slowing.

"The same time last year the market softened and slowed, but we haven't seen that at all this year," Mr Martin said.

"You can see in the Western Bay and in Tauranga that the bulk of the increase has happened in the past three months and that matches the increasing volume of sales."

The increase in the sales was putting the pressure on values, he said.

Anton James, owner of First National Mount Maunganui, Tauranga and Omokoroa, said the market had sped up just in the past few weeks.

"Things are just going from strength-to-strength."

Last month was "one of our best months ever", and anything that was put on the market was snapped up very quickly.