KEY POINTS:
The number of people searching for mortgagee sales on a local real estate search website is growing, as the financial crisis puts more lenders under pressure.
There are now 285 mortgagee listings on the realestate.co.nz site, says chief executive Alistair Helm, up from 218 in December.
And it appears lower valued properties are more likely to be put on the market by the banks, with the majority of mortgagee sales listed in the sub $300,000 bracket.
Half of mortgagee listings are in this price range,says Helm despite only making up a third of total listings on the website.
The mid price bracket of $300k to $600k is underrepresented in mortgagee listings with just 31 per cent of the 285 listings as compared to 44 per cent of all site listings.
Helm said last month that up until March of last year the words "mortgagee" or "mortgagee sale" were rarely used in the search engine of the site - which lists the majority of properties for sale through real estate agents in New Zealand. "Mortgagee sales generated one of every 12 searches during the year."
But as the end of the bull run became more obvious and media articles emerged about home owners in trouble, buyers - especially investors - started looking out for mortgagee sales in the hope of bagging a bargain.
After one television show featuring a story about mortgagee sales, the website recorded 800 searches on the subject that very night.
- HERALD ONLINE
