It's been a game of two halves for Rotorua property values. Photo / Andrew Warner
It's been a game of two halves for Rotorua property values. Photo / Andrew Warner
Rotorua has lost one suburb from the million-dollar property club but a handful of others have bucked a nationwide downward trend and increased in value.
One real estate agent told NZME that high vendor price expectations meant some had taken their property off the market and were ''waiting for itall to blow over'', while another said the market was ''not setting the world on fire''.
A suburb-by-suburb breakdown from the OneRoof-Valocity House Value Index shows in the past three months Fenton Park had the biggest increase in value and jumped from $584,000 to $604,000. Mamaku also experienced gains and went from $591,000 to $604,000, Hamurana was up from $1.33m to $1.36m, Mangakakahi $570,000 to $574,000 and Ngongotahā $755,000 to $756,000.
The Lynmore average property value dropped from $1m to $991,000 while the average house price in Rotorua was $792,000 compared to $799,000 three months ago.
OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan said the Rotorua market was chugging along.
''It hasn't suffered as much as other centres possibly because Rotorua was in a weakened state towards the end of last year and has probably gone through its turmoil. It's a less crazy or slumped market.''
Vaughan said there could be opportunities for first-home buyers.
Rotorua Professionals McDowell Real Estate principal Steve Lovegrove. Photo / Andrew Warner
Rotorua Professionals McDowell Real Estate principal Steve Lovegrove said a lot of properties had been withdrawn from the market due to vendors not achieving their price expectations.
''They are sitting back waiting for it all to blow over. They are not willing to take the price and don't necessarily realise the market is settling to a new level.
''It's not going down any further, it's not crashing, it's not bubble popping, it's just settled to a slightly lower level than it was before.''
The key to getting sold was having the ability to get sufficient feedback to know where the new value sits, he said.
Over the past two months, the number of people going to open homes was consistently low Lovegrove said but when a property was priced correctly there were buyers.
During the winter he said it sold a lot of high-value properties which could skew the figures.
''They are still turning over so that's meant it's inflated the averages. My prediction going forward is when we get into the spring market and start seeing some stats coming through from the mid to lower end you'll probably see the average house price fall in Rotorua.
''People may even become alarmed.''
First National principal and Rotorua REINZ spokeswoman Ann Crossley. Photo / File
First National principal and Rotorua REINZ spokeswoman Ann Crossley said drawing on her 30-plus years in real estate, ''when the rest of New Zealand goes absolutely crazy and booms Rotorua just has a good time''.
''When the rest of the country drops in value, particularly in Auckland, Rotorua will level out and then go off again. Rotorua's busts are not real busts it is just a slowing and levelling consolidation period.''
She said the market was ''steady and is not setting the world on fire''.
First-home buyers looking at lower-priced properties and owner occupiers wanting to upgrade were still present while it had noticed a drop-off in investors.
Managing director of the Realty Group Limited, which operates Eves and Bayleys, Heath Young. Photo / Supplied
Managing director of the Realty Group Limited, which operates Eves and Bayleys, Heath Young said on Friday there were 400 properties for sale in Rotorua. At the same time last year, it would have been half that.
"Our market remains stable because the bulk of the sales were made up of Rotorua people moving within Rotorua.
''We have noticed higher levels of activity at open homes and indeed more inquiry over the past couple of weeks. We feel that people have just decided 'well the market is the market, if we're going to buy and sell we might as well get on with it as we are buying and selling in the same market anyway'."
Other than the past two years, which have seen significant growth in values across all suburbs, the Rotorua market as a whole had always lagged behind other markets.
''This is largely related to the fact that we have not had a strong history of an increasing population by way of migration into the city.''
Valocity head of valuations James Wilson said sales volumes were definitely down in Rotorua but houses weren't selling at major discounts.
However, he did not expect to see significant value drops when activity picked up.
''Rotorua has paused and held the course it hasn't really come back like other places.''
Wilson said there had been a few more upper-end sales compared to the previous quarter but typically they were buyers from Auckland or Tauranga.
