New housing in Napier near Park Island. Photo / Paul Taylor
New housing in Napier near Park Island. Photo / Paul Taylor
The Hawke's Bay housing market has seen a slight bounce back following months of falling house prices and low sales, according to the latest real estate figures.
The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) has released its figures for the month of July which included 177 homes selling acrossthe region.
That was an increase of 50 homes compared with June when just 127 homes sold.
REINZ also reported the median price for homes sold during July was $733,500 in Hawke's Bay, which was the first time in five months the average sale price increased rather than dropped.
Comparatively, the median price for homes that sold in the region in March was $796,000, April was $770,000, May was $735,000, and June was $690,000.
Meanwhile, a whopping 739 homes were up for sale across the Bay last month, which was almost triple the number of homes on the market in July 2021 (when just 253 properties were available).
REINZ chief executive Jen Baird says more listings are likely coming into spring. Photo / NZME
REINZ chief executive Jen Baird said first-home buyers across Hawke's Bay were still finding it tough to break into the housing market despite plenty of homes being for sale.
"First-home buyers still find it challenging to enter the market due to difficulty securing finance, which has contributed to a drop in sales [compared to last year]."
She said many potential buyers "are concerned about further interest rate rises and inflation" which was also impacting the current market.
She said listings were likely to increase further coming into spring.
Quotable Value registered valuer Damien Hall said seller expectations were still high in Hawke's Bay despite the market cooling off.
"While the number of listings has increased, activity has declined – although some agents have reported a rise in interest over the past couple of weeks," he said.
"Vendor expectations remain high, and as a result, we are seeing extended selling periods and a lot of price adjustments."
Meanwhile, REINZ uses another tool to track house price trends in Hawke's Bay called the House Price Index, which takes into consideration a wide range of data.
That index has highlighted a decline in house prices appears to be slowing in Hawke's Bay and Gisborne but the trend is still continuing downward.
Rising interest rates combined with tougher lending restrictions for mortgages has led to a shake-up of the housing market this year.
The number of house sales in Hawke's Bay in July (177 houses sold) was the lowest July sales count in the region since 2014.
Number of house sales by month in Hawke's Bay July 2022 - 177 June 2022 - 127 May 2022 - 193 Apr 2022 - 127 Mar 2022 - 173 Feb 2022 - 168 Jan 2022 - 124 Dec 2021 - 214 Nov 2021 - 260 Oct 2021 - 241 Sept 2021 - 207 Aug 2021 - 151 July 2021 - 208 June 2021 - 189 May 2021 - 236 April 2021 - 209 Mar 2021 - 255 Feb 2021 - 226 Jan 2021 - 121 Dec 2020 - 255 Nov 2020 - 271 Oct 2020 - 275 Sept 2020 - 263 Aug 2020 - 255 July 2020 - 282 June 2020 - 243
