Mr MacPherson said regional representative from across the country were involved in the Auckland expo and another expo was already planned for November.
“That’s how successful it was. The internet is really interesting tool but these physical presentations are still great. It was very, very proactive. For Gisborne, it’s very important we do that but we push this city every day.
“At Bayleys we have always targeted about 50 percent of our marketing outside of the region as opposed to just locally.”
He said that percentage had risen to about 70 percent, in favour of outside of Gisborne. One recent vendor was based in Brazil.
“But Gisborne has had its battles since the 1970s, basically since Britain joined the EU. I think Brexit is going to be good for New Zealand.
“Really, the focus the last few years has been the rest of New Zealand. Usually, more than 50 percent of farms are bought by people outside of the region, we’re also seeing a lot of investment from outside the district with honey and manuka. That’s significant, we’ve done four properties with interests in manuka in the last 18 months - three of those in the last four months - and we expect to do more.
“That’s a fantastic thing for marginal land that previously had no value. Most of these are New Zealand-based but two of them have been expat kiwis, living offshore but still NZ residents.
Sales manager Karen Raureti said the expo was an “invited event” for Auckland investors known to be active in the property market.
“It was specifically for the regions, for those investors to look beyond Auckland to see what those regions had to offer.”
Ms Raureti said about ten Gisborne commercial properties were showcased on the day.
“I guess it’s not about selling something immediately, it’s about telling and showing people about Gisborne. Just planting the seed about Gisborne.”
That sort of thinking was having an effect.
“About five years ago people didn’t know where Gisborne was, it’s just a case of continually putting it out there.”
At present the market was “active”, with some good projects going on around the city. However, earthquake strengthening issues were a “massive” drawback.
“Activity-wise, people are buying and doing repairs.”
Prices of some buildings had been reflective of the cost of needed strengthening work, and lost rental income. While one recent property had been sold on its land value alone.
“It’s not just the work, you have to relocate tenants. And that was an Auckland buyer that bought that.”
“We are flat out with inquiries, and inquiries from all over the place, and we’re also dealing with a lot of existing owners that don’t live in Gisborne.”
