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Cashed-up homebuyers are continuing to reap rewards from the property slump as vendors slash their expectations to meet the grim reality of a changing market.
Auckland couple Jo and Jamie Thomson moved into a four-bedroom villa in Hillsborough a week ago which they bought for $575,000 - $114,000 less than the asking price.
Remax real estate agent Will Geddes said the large home, on more than 650sq m and with views of the Manukau Harbour and One Tree Hill, was on sale for $689,000 before Christmas.
"I think anyone buying now is getting a great deal," said Geddes.
He said the vendors, who bought two years ago for $609,000, were pleased to sell because they were ready to move on. They did not feel as if they had undersold because they recognised the reality of today's market.
Jo Thomson said she could not believe their offer was accepted.
"I'm really still stunned, numb and in shock," she said. "We think we got it for a really good price. We wouldn't have been able to afford the same house six months ago, so we're thrilled."
The couple sold their three-bedroom home in nearby Three Kings for $472,000, $17,000 under their asking price of $489,000.
Geddes said another client in Hillsborough was selling a four-bedroom home for $619,000, despite having a registered valuation of $700,000.
An agent from an Auckland-based firm said the "transitional market" was forcing many vendors to lower their asking price - especially if their house had been on the market for a while.
One example was an early-20th-century villa in Freemans Bay with a listed price of $980,000 - a big reduction on the $1.3 million original figure.
The five- to six-bedroom home, which overlooks north-facing, park-like gardens, is near a four-bedroom home in exclusive Herne Bay that sold for $790,000 last month, $145,000 less than it went for a little over a year ago.
Hamilton-based Ray White Real Estate agent Bobbie Jarvis said the new catch-phrase in the Waikato was "meet the market". This meant vendors had to lower their expectations or they would not sell.
An example was a "beautiful" four-bedroom property with a swimming pool in St James, which was initially marketed at $779,000 but sold for $699,000 after being on the market for about five months.
Harcourts agent Grant Wakelin said there appeared to be a Mexican stand-off in Rotorua, where vendors were generally not taking low offers.
In Tauranga, vendors were taking slightly lower offers while both situations were occurring in Taupo.
A property at Taupo's Acacia Bay was listed at $1.65 million but sold recently for $1.6m. And a Taupo lakefront property sold for $150,000 below the $2m asking price. Wakelin said during the past three months Taupo properties had sold on average 7 per cent below list price.
ANZ senior economist Khoon Goh said it was a buyers' market, but homes nationwide were over-valued by an average 20 per cent in relation to average incomes.
Sellers generally still had unreal-istic price expectations, which explained why there had been about a 50 per cent drop in house sales in the past year, and why it was taking longer than a month to sell most houses.
He said if vendors lowered their expectations, more houses would sell. "This is required for the housing market to adjust."
