Taxing Times for house market -May 17th 2010
Uncertainty around the coming changes to the way investment properties will be taxed and how that is going to affect the rest of the market has made for a quiet market in the last month nationally. The local house market in North Wellington echoes this reserve. There are people buying but the investor market is all but extinct and the first home buyers market is very cagey.
Once we get through the budget announcement and buyers and sellers have a little time to assimilate what the tax changes mean for them, I believe we will see a flush of activity. There are plenty of lookers in open homes at the moment.
Interestingly, prices have not been too adversely affected in the quieter market conditions because homeowners are also holding off selling.
Watch the interest rates!
Banks are starting to hike shorter term fixed rates in the expectati0 on that the Reserve Bank will finally begin to lift the OCR. By raising their fixed rates now, they are in a position to catch mortgage holders coming off floating as the rates rise. If you have been waiting to move from floating to a fixed rate talk to your mortgage broker or bank person asap.
North Wellington Stats
Average Sale Price
The average sale price firmed slightly. This is possibly because of the number of sales at the higher end of the market and a quieter first home buyers bracket.
Average time to sell
The average time to sell leaped to 38 days in April. This is still well down on the 2 months to sell when the recession hit the house market in 2008 and early 2009.
The number of homes sold
The number of homes sold in April ducked below the 80 unit mark after a busy March but is certainly better than the average number of sales through the last couple of Autumns
