Agents say Tauranga property market normalising with buyers and sellers more realistic

House prices in Tauranga have barely changed in three months according to QV. Photo/file

Tauranga's house values have barely moved in three months according to new QV data, and real estate bosses say the market is normalising.

The latest statistics from QV show Tauranga's values have increased just 0.9 per cent in the past three months to an average value of $678,643 - although prices are still up considerably from April last year with a 17.5 per cent rise.

Western Bay of Plenty values increased 15.9 per cent year-on-year and 2.7 per cent in the past three months. The average value in the district is now $590,783.

QV homevalue Tauranga registered valuer David Hume said agents were reporting more normalised activity in the sub-$700,000 bracket.

"Well-located properties over $1 million continue to be in good demand. Some agents are even reporting a softening of values for investment properties which is likely to be due to some investors finding it more difficult to gain finance to purchase with the higher deposit requirements."

Simon Anderson, the chief executive of Realty Group, which operates Eves and Bayleys, said values were well up on this time 12 months ago, and in the past three months, the company had seen some high-valued properties sell.

"We are also seeing a lot of first-home buyers on the market, which is great news. We are loving that. That's giving a balance to the market on the whole.

"In the last month, we've held two first-home buyers' seminars which have both sold out."

Mr Anderson said many transactions were now happening before or after auction, which enabled first-home buyers to put an offer forward with conditions subject to finance.

The number of transactions last month had become what Mr Anderson said he would consider a "normal" market compared to what Tauranga has been seeing.

Anton Jones from Tauranga First National Realty said he still it was still a strong market, but vendors had to be more realistic with their prices.

"Properties that are selling better are those that have been priced more correctly. The blue sky prices we're not getting these days, although we're getting the odd one from Auckland that needs to settle quite quickly.

"The key is for vendors to be more realistic."

Mr Jones said there were more listings on the market, but it was not quite a buyers' market.

"It's quite a good market because both vendors and purchasers are happy. It's quite a nice market. We're enjoying it. It's not one-sided."

Greg Purcell of Ray White Realty Focus in Mount Maunganui and Papamoa said this year had been a good one so far after tailing off towards the end of last year when the LVR lending restrictions tightened, and the bright-line test was introduced.

"That all seemed to have an impact, by September, October we felt that. Not in a terrible way, but with a safe landing. If we kept going at the rate of knots we had been, it wouldn't have been such a soft landing."

Mr Purcell said mid to high-end properties were going okay and there had been a recovery in sales of entry-level homes.

"That went stone cold bloody dead for a while. It needed resuscitation. It's semi-normal now, the market doesn't have that ridiculous fizz to it like when everything was just crazy for that 12 to 18 months.

"There's no panic buying. People are a lot more considered."