House prices tumble, listings up

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Gisborne’s housing market last month recorded both the nation’s biggest year-on-year drop and the biggest increase in listings.

Latest data from the Real Estate Institute (REINZ) shows Gisborne’s median price decreased by 15.2 percent year on year, the nation’s biggest drop, to $560,000.

That was $100,000 down on the same time last year.

“In Gisborne, owner-occupiers have begun listing their properties, with plans to move on. More vendors are adjusting their prices according to the market,” REINZ chief executive Jen Baird said.

“Open homes and auction rooms saw an increase in attendance and activity in November. There has been an overall increase in sales counts across Gisborne. This is despite significant weather events impacting the region.”

Ms Baird said the weather and road closures had the largest effect on the property market in the region.

“Despite this, local agents report that market sentiments are generally positive. Looking at recent market activity, agents are hopeful for a sustained period of market activity in 2024.”

Although prices were down year on year, Bayleys Gisborne director Simon Bousfield pointed out the median drop was only 1.8 percent compared to last month.

“However, other signs of market activity and improvement are days to sell being well down by 14 on October, and sales count well up on October with a 26 percent increase and also up on last year by 5.9 percent.

“We’ve seen a large jump in the number of listings coming to market, with Gisborne recording a 75 percent increase — by far the largest in the country.”

Mr Bousfield said another more accurate measure of activity was the REINZ house price index (HPI), which was far less prone to being skewed by monthly property sales.

“Trends produced on median and average house values can be almost entirely due to types of property sold each month (for example,  an unusually large representation of high-end housing sales) rather than changes in the true market value.

“The REINZ HPI takes more into account, resulting in greater accuracy by analysing how prices in a market are influenced by a range of attributes such as land area, floor area and number of bedrooms, to create a single, more accurate measure of housing market activity and trends over time. The Gisborne HPI was 3.3 percent down over a twelve month period to November, illustrating less of a decrease than represented by median.

“We are seeing plenty more activity in the market, with properties selling like they were in the peak. However, many signs of improvement such as more numbers in auction rooms, more pre-deadline sales and more offers on deadline sales do provide confidence of continued improvement moving into 2024.”

Ray White Gisborne director Shelley Donaldson echoed Mr Bousfield’s sentiments.

“Across November we have seen a good number of first home buyers enter the market, capitalising on increased stock numbers and the looming deadline of the summer holiday break. In many cases, sellers of homes in this price bracket are upgrading, so we may see an increase in the median sale price as we head into 2024.

“January can often be a quieter month in terms of sales, with solicitors closed and most agents taking a break. I look forward to the first few months of 2024, with a number of auction events booked and hopefully some consistent weather helping owners prepare their homes for market.”