More demand than supply

We have experienced intense competitive bidding at all of this week’s auctions, plus a sale rate that continues at pace.

We can’t help but feel buyers are in front of the commentators and have reacted to a bottoming out, about 6-8 weeks ago.

Home owners, it seems, are under the misguided view that it’s a bad time to sell – consequently demand is outstripping supply.

Winter's warming up

It’s getting colder and winter is definitely upon us. No sign however of the housing market going out in sympathy. If anything, it feels market sentiment is warming.

We note the average house price in Auckland gained 2% last month. April was another improved month for us – we currently have a shortage of homes.

It’s actually a better time to sell than it’s been for
many months.

OCR hits new low

The Reserve Bank confirmed our prediction and has once again adjusted the OCR rate downwards to a new low of 2.5%.

While the outlook painted in the banks statement is bearish, our opinion is that this confirming of a low interest rate environment will continue to have buyers return to the market.

April for us has been another very good month with an increasing number of homes being sold in competition.

Strong market response continues

Market response continues to be strong, sales volumes are steady, buyers clearly seeing opportunity with realistic vendors meeting the market and buyers increasingly understanding this could be as good as it gets. To add fuel to the fire, expectations are that the OCR will be cut another 0.5% next week.

Imitation - The highest form of flattery.

With school holidays on us we have had time to reflect on Barfoot & Thompson’s recent decision to match our fee structure and this week’s decision by L J Hooker to copy our advertising layout (view it here page 17) notice any similarities? These moves encourage us and confirm what our market place consistently tells us; namely the package we offer vendors is compelling and comes with real added value.