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It was hard work closing the price gap between buyers and sellers at the latest Auckland apartment auctions

Property
It was hard work closing the price gap between buyers and sellers at the latest Auckland apartment auctions

It was hard work getting agreement on price at this week's main Auckland apartment auctions.

There was a reasonable selection on offer with apartments that would have appealed to both investors and owner-occupiers up for grabs, and potential buyers were not shy on bidding for most of them. But the auctioneers and sales staff had their work cut out for them attempting to close the gap between the price buyers were prepared to pay and the price vendors were prepared to accept.

At City Sales five apartments were originally scheduled for auction but one was postponed leaving four to go under the hammer.

These included a two bedroom art deco unit with a garage in Mt Eden village, a 140 square metre, two bedroom/two bathroom unit with two carparks in the Perspective complex on College Hill in Freemans Bay, a one bedroom plus study unit in the Urba building at the top end of Howe St just off Karangahape Rd, and a three bedroom/two bathroom terrace house on a leasehold title in Parnell.

There were multiple bids on the Mt Eden and College Hill properties, a single bid on the Urba unit and no bids for the Parnell Terrace house, but by the end of the auction none of the properties had sold under the hammer.

However the College Hill apartment sold in private negotiations post auction and although the price was not disclosed, it was understood to be above the highest bid of $1.3 million that was received at auction.

At Ray White City Apartments 10 apartments had been scheduled for auction but one was withdrawn prior, leaving nine to go under the hammer.

There was a good mix which included a two bedroom unit in the brand new SkyView complex overlooking Myers Park, a studio in the student quarter near the university, a couple of leasehold units downtown, and a unit in the Bianco complex just off the top end of Queen St, which had remediation issues.

First up was a two bedroom unit in the Sapphire building on Wakefield St which had received a pre-auction offer of $485,000, which had been accepted subject to a better offer being received at auction.

But when no bids were received it was declared sold at the offer price of $485,000.

Of the eight remaining units, multiple offers were received on six, and single bids were received on two. But only two of the units were sold under the hammer.

The rest all went to post auction negotiations and also became available for conditional buyers to make offers on.

That meant that most of the action at this week's auctions occurred after the hammer had fallen.

Details and photos of all the apartments offered at both auctions and the selling prices of most of those that sold are available on our Residential Auction Results page.

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102 Comments

...today's buyer is choosy, is in no hurry and is wising up. It is a buyers market after all.

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https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12…

I'm a buyer if we see the 30% discount to current prices. It has to be a prime location, good build quality and be immune to likely planning changes. My TDs mature in Jan/Feb and March. Will I be set by then?

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Ex Expat, of to Sydney then? I think you're pushing it for Jan/Feb March though. Smart buyers are also patient buyers.

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Buying an apartment in Australia at the moment is fine as long as the pair you have down there is made out of steel.

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Chair Mower that’s assuming the writer is male
You’re right though why buy anything in Sydney now when there’s so much downside

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https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/108639971/new-home-prices-sta…
"New houses are starting to fall in price in Auckland, as builders reposition themselves for the city's cooling real estate market."
"Something that's $1.1 million might end up $999,000 or $995,000"

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A new house was built next to us in Meadowbank / Remuera. It's been on the market since early this year. Was originally advertised for $1.7 million. Now price by negotiation, but I understand asking price is $1.3 million now.

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The artificial rocket boosters of Chinese money, easy lending, tax advantages have all be shut off. Add to that there is lots of supply coming online soon (count the cranes), tenancy changes, immigration slow down and lots of noise and smoke about interest rates, change is now clearly somewhere between more than likely and reality.

Simply put, gravity is starting to have an effect again.

While I agree the Council, materials duopoly and trade shortage is still all real problems, it seems the serial bulls are denying that change can actually happen. Many also denied National could loose the election, Trump would be elected, and that the UK would vote in Brexit. Look at the change that all those three events have already caused.

Grabbing popcorn = Mortgage paid off, and building a vulture find to pick the bones of specuvestor in the next couple of years. Its all about cycles...

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My kids got to eighteen cranes visible from the Sky Tower last Saturday before they lost interest.

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Exactly. Crane hire place must be caning it at the moment.

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Can you please get them to give regular updates.

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interesting, if apartments are sold for 485k in Central City , why KiwiBuild is selling off-plan studios in Papakura for for the same money and above..

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oh, you are right, wrong site - it was Re: Onehunga "The @340 Onehunga properties available to pre-qualified buyers are 6 studio apartments priced from $380,000, 12 one-bedroom apartments priced from $490,000, and 7 two-bedroom apartments priced at $600,000."
adn Otahuhu as well "Priced between $580,000 and $600,000" All off-plan

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I presume that in Central Auckland you can buy studio cheaper or for the same money, but you can move in straight away and not renting another year or so. Given that Kiwibuild was supposed to be "affordable" solution it is just looking like it is really different from current market if not worse. And I believe with the current sales rate it is much more likely to win the auction than KW ballot ....

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I wouldn't assume that. Maybe if you buy leasehold, but then you could be paying $200/week in ground rent and body corp on top of the purchase price. Freehold apartments in the city are still expensive.. unless they are cheap for a reason (leaky building!)

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Read what you wrote .... Onehunga, 40m2, 380k..... none of that makes any sense.

We have become so conditioned to the insanity that is housing in this country...

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Boom is over and now the only question is - How Much the market may fall.

Still some resistance but will soon give way and will be able to see the real effect .

Expectation has changed from High 900s / Million Plus TO Mid to High 800s and being sold for early 800s. Was looking at Pakuranga and near by area . Vendor's expectation at this stage is 10% to 15% below, than the Auction result is 25% to 30% so can imaging what will happen going forward.

Also checked many properties that are coming up in market have been bought in last 2 to 3 years and it is those vendors (Who bought for fast money) will struggle to sell without a lose and those who paid absurd amount earlier are likely to make heavy lose or if have holding capacity will have to wait and once many start selling at low price - Watch the ripple down effect that has to and will happen (Similar to what happened in boom time - if one property went 10% to 30% more than the expectation -it benefited the other properties also and now if one or two properties goes 10% to 30% below will pull down other properties. also).

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Here's a good example;
https://www.trademe.co.nz/1814554660

Last sold in June 2016 for $1.266m. Now asking $1.190m. After costs, they'll be lucky to limit their loss to $100k. Could be worse....the TradeMe estimate is $1.05m

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Nice house and section. Wrong side of motorway to be Mt Roskill surely....?

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And this is just the begining.

If does not sell it now, may end up with more damages unless he is able to maintain it for few years.

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Plus, it's homes.co.nz estimate is 1135000.... Never going to get asking price.

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Over capitalised nice inside & out but location & what kiwis can realistically afford $800K max.

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It's funny how people stretched the local boundary! That area is Lynfield, not Mt Roskill, I used to live around the corner from Lynfield college and it's NOT 20 mins from the city unless someone drives like they stole it!

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we could have been neighbours..

i wonder if you were the one i had a long chat about the impending housing crash :)

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Terry street used to be my hood. Moved nearer to the city in 2006 and then left Auckland in 2012.
Great spot for family, I had about 4 different rat runs to the city without getting stuck in heavy traffic!

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Mulgan Street was my hood 1972. Great place to bring up kids then.

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It is 20 minutes now with the Waterview tunnel.....as long as it's not during the peak.

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By the looks of it that may have been a very expensive place to do the laundry!

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how did they get away with opening up the kitchen and lounge that had a supporting wall between them, i would check the ceiling cavity on that one to see if they used steel, timber or nothing?

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Will be interesting to watch what happens in next few weeks at the Auction.

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Soon people will be buying homes for 50% discount. Or 2 for 1 deal. Or pay full price and get the second for free. Could be wrong though, might be 70% discount, 3 for 1 deal, Or pay full price and get the other 2 for free.

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Not saying it will, but it could happen.

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Settle Gretel. we have all been there before. If you have bought for the right reasons, i.e. to live in, it will be business as usual don't panic.

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any updates on today's B&T's auctions?

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one of the swanson properties didnt sell , it not on the list, but now with a price of 849..

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I have just checked the property reference numbers for Barfoots Auction on Wednesday 14th at 10am which covers the central suburbs.

of the 20 listings that were actioned 4 are showing as sold

33a Fancourt Street Meadowbankwww.barfoot.co.nz/764844

5a Waitomo Avenue Mt Eden www.barfoot.co.nz/765287

5d Challenger Street St Heliers www.barfoot.co.nz/765687

66 West Tamaki Road St Heliers www.barfoot.co.nz (760805)

8 are now listed as by negotiation
7 are now listed as priced
1 has not been updated

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...nothing can plant more fear into the mind of the materialistic Spruiker than the increasing chances a "DGM" outlook coming to fruition.

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Not sure about all the others, but I will be one of the first to tell you that the market has officially crashed. Currently I'm still waiting for it to happen.

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Carlos 67, from your vantage point, are Sydney and Melbourne markets crashing? If not, then at what point? I'm sure you were happy to link Auckland and Sydney as international cities once upon a time too. I think its a bit shallow to wait and then "call a crash" until after several years of large declines. By that stage everyone knows and everyone sees it, not only in the rear vision mirror, but in real time on homes.co.nz.

Auckland's now starting to look vulnerable. Where Auckland goes, the rest of the country shall follow.

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....the only difference is, you get the blame for ALL the carnage.

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Housing crisis?
What housing crisis?

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FOlly,

No really, what housing crisis? You're referring to the 40K under-supply that MBIE estimates for Auckland?

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BLSH, no, he's referring to a growing glut of expensive houses. Same as Sydney and Melbourne. Soon they'll become more affordable to those who meet the revised lending criteria of the day.

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RP, no he's referring to the growing number of vendors selling less than their purchase price..

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MBIE are wrong.

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This said housing shortage is about as arguable as Stats-NZ 3% buying NZ property. Currently, is there a shortage of affordably priced houses? YES

Auckland, has an excess supply of unaffordable homes. Market forces of supply and demand will alter this picture considerably over time.

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MBIE are pretty much right. Auckland has spent a decade building only half as fast as a normal city and there are now more people living per house. The problem here is people think a housing shortage means high house prices, when it just means high rent and more overcrowding.

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Well that doesn't stack up with the rent data...

Sure AC are experts in ensuring as little development as possible takes place, however I'm looking right now at a hedonic rent index for Auckland that suggests rents have been consistently growing at ~4% p.a. since 2000. The rate of growth is not at all correlated with changes in housing consent activity and is both consistent with growth in other areas and substantially less volatile.

Rents are anchored to income; it's the marginal worker that sets the price.
Multiple workers do share houses - But that is a symptom of relatively low income, not high rents given the data.

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I'm really not sure if they've got it right. I don't think it's nearly that bad.
But it's a good story, and helps to build the 'more house building please' narrative, which will only help to send prices lower.

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Because Sydney is Auckland is Beijing is Timbuktu. Ay FOlly?

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translated "I find experienced people who challenge todays utopia (dangerous complacency) so unpalatable, I'll call them names"

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To clarify, your implying a 30% drop (their words) in Sydney would have no impact in Auckland?

Also I really like the bit about class action suits against the banks -"they should not have lent me the money, its the Banks fault". I would suggest the contract the borrowers signed will have as much in it on debt forgiveness and interest offset, as it does about turning lead into gold.

Music is stopping and those standing up with no chair (interest only low/no equity negative leverage suckers) are starting to wake up from their junkie like debt injected stupor. Lets get a lawyer...good luck.

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Fake news....You are aware that the 30% drop was one of 5 scenarios the UBS analyst put forward? The first scenario was that the worst had past, but that isn't click-bait so will never be the headline. Here is an article to balance things a little https://www.domain.com.au/news/two-20-million-sales-in-a-week-that-make…

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Has anyone had the decency to look for TTP... he may be in a dark place suffering from overdose, realizing his predictions is going down a dark hole...

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He's is in the common room chatting with JLR.

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Trade me is now at 13486 in Akld

Realestate.co.nz at 14321 in Akld

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thegic - thats crazy. Realestate.co.nz for the country is 38,185, it was 36,744 on the 6th of November. Up 1,441 in just 10 days.
The views for Bricks and Slaughter documentary on youtube yesterday was at 291,560. Today its at 293,408. Up 1,848.

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Hahahaha. Maybe 407 vendors watched it twice?

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Nzdan - LOL. yeah could be the case. Maybe 407 RE Agents have watched it 3 times, and are thinking now may be a good time to run for there lives and get another job before there fellow work colleagues beat them to it.

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To many cynics on this site.
It's like someone who smells flowers and looks for a coffin.

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in this case the flowers are only located by funeral homes..

hmmm so are they cynics or realists????

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PropertPrices2Fall - Maybe we should be called Truth and Reality Merchants ? ( TRMs ).

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I thought you have expressed bear-ish views on the Auckland property market too BigDaddy?

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Care to enlighten us with a prediction, Wolly Noland? Doubt it.

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Yeah you are correct if smell flowers in graveyard will look for a coffin and this is what is happening to speculators who have been caught up in last 2 years.

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Speculators or Investors who have bought in last 2 years and now wanted to sell are in for a shock.

Property listed was sold for a million in 2016 and has RV of $910000. Stand alone but very small. Will be interesting to see what it fetches in current market scenario as between 1 million to 1. 1 million big properties are available now - buyers with that budget have a choice and in comparison this property may go below million.

https://homes.co.nz/app/address/auckland/sunnyhills/47-stanniland-stree…

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Property investment bought well is by far the best and safest return!
You are the one that has control of how much you rent the property for and how much you sell it for should you wish to.
If no takers then you don’t sell, whereas shares you have absolutely no control over.
Returns of 6% are achievable and capital gain is a bonus.

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The Man 2 - The market has control how much you rent the property for. The Market has control how much you sell it for. If you dont sell then the bank may do it for you as most investors use other peoples money. Returns of 6% is unlikely with banks soon to follow Australia with Interest only loans going to Principle and Interest. And Capital gains now becoming Capital losses.

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With interest only loans going to principal and interest your return would still be 6%. It would just be a little more difficult to get your hands on it. Simply increasing your revolving credit facility would be one answer.

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Another comment from The Boy which confirms to us why he needs to be a Real Estate agent to make a living.

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The MAN 2 towers above most of the commenters on this site and truly deserves his moniker.

Do you guys know that you get your principal back when you sell the property?

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Very easy when you buy properties below market value like THE MAN 2 does. The chances of selling a wisely bought property, like one that returns positive cash flow, many years later, for less than you paid is minuscule.

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*whispers_"negative_equity"_as_she_walks_past*

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*on_her_way_to_the_auction_house_to_buy_a_property_in_Wellington*

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Ha BLSH you funny. Auction in Wellington? Very few and far between. It's all tender and negotiation around here.

I don't really think TM2 will get in negative equity though either, he's a buy and hold kinda chap and doesn't go in for all the negative gearing shenanigans either.

Negative equity does happen in a housing correction though, so in that instance, you can walk away with nada, or worse than nada.

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We are really talking about whether or not principal payments are included into any calculations of profitability. Pretty obviously they are not.

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Gordon, which part of I am not a Real Estate Agent, do you not understand?
You need to take your meds more frequency to help your memory!

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Frequently not frequency The Boy. Retired at 58, five years ago and on no medication. You could have done that but you chose the wrong investments in the wrong town. However I suppose an agents income did not give you much fire power to invest with.

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Tony Turner, you are incorrect.
We advertise what rental we want for our rental property and the tenants have always paid it!
We very rarely have any down time with our rentals as we are always well prepared!
We have not sold a property for a long time but when we have we have always known what we want for the property and we always got what we were wanting!
We have the control unlike shares that are affected by all the other share owners!

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After a real flurry of listings in the few suburbs I am keeping an eye on in Auckland to give me a bit of info on what is happening, very few new listings are coming on to Trade Me, this I would put down to agents talking up the market before the foreign buyers ban took effect, as there really was a lot of activity around before then. Why are they spurning the apartment market? My guess would be that many bought freehold, stand alone before than ban took effect and may take a while before there is much demand. I don't think there is a lot of money able to get out of China now, good job.

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Let's not forget the timing of Christmas too.. with the average days to sell being more than 30, it'll take them right to the shutdown period...

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Nothing for Kiwis to be concerned about. Un Zul'n us duffrunt un spushull.

Right?

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Nothing for Kiwis to be concerned about. Un Zul'n us duffrunt un spushull.

Right?

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Yes pretty much, it would be a mistake to compare NZ to Australia or Ireland. Sure I see interesting times ahead but at what point do you give up on a market crash in NZ ? if things are still chugging along in 6 months time do you give up waiting ? If your still here waiting in 10 years time for it to happen do you finally admit defeat ?

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Pragmatist, I think you will find that Christchurch prices are not dropping at all!
The median has been rising and the sales no.s are up as well.
Have heard from several agents and brokers that there are heaps of first home buyers in Chch at the moment and obviously they tend to be buying the cheaper homes.
This in itself tends to bring down the Chch median price, plus the fact that there are still AS Is Where Is property still being sold which also affects the median.
Anyone on here can say anything they like about the Chch property market, but if they are not involved in it, then they haven’t got their finger on the pulse!
ChCh property market will hold up better than any other city in NZ going forward, due to the new growth that is taking place and the quality of life is great.
Believe it or not, but The Man has told it the way it really is!

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DP

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