Realtors ‘ready to rock’

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

GISBORNE'S housing market is out of an enforced lockdown and with just nine houses sold last month, realtors are prepared for change.

Latest data from the Real Estate Institute New Zealand shows sales fell to single figures in April while the Covid-19 Alert Level 4 lockdown was in place.

“Gisborne median house prices were up 11.7 percent year-on-year to $400,000, however, there were only nine sales throughout April,” REINZ regional manager Neville Falconer said.

Gisborne was one of three regions nationwide to have less than 10 sales in April. The others were Nelson and West Coast.

“Many vendors are taking a wait-and-see approach,” said Mr Falconer.

“There have been a few offers presented that are lower than expected but vendors are not rushing into decisions and are looking to see where the market moves in the next couple of weeks.

“One advantage vendors have been talking about locally is how the lockdown period has given them the opportunity to do work on their properties to get them ready for sale.

“Auctions are hugely popular in Gisborne. This time last year there were 40 auctions, whereas this year there were none.

“Auctions are planned to start up again (this weekend), which will give a good indication of where the market is sitting and whether we will see similar prices to pre-lockdown.”

Bayleys Gisborne sales manager Karen Raureti said staff were “ready to rock” after the housing market was basically put on hold for April.

Sales that did go ahead were to people who had access to technology, those who purchased sight unseen and those who had viewed the property pre-lockdown.

“We are absolutely not fazed about April,” said Ms Raureti.

“We are just moving on now. Our inquiry levels have been very high since moving from Level 3.

“We're looking forward to our next open day. We started open homes over the weekend and things are relatively back to being able to make sure everyone has an opportunity to view a property, not just those people who have access to technology or who are prepared to buy sight unseen.”

Staff had used the time in lockdown to upskill and prepare for being able to work in Level 2.

“The market is the market. Our role is to get the absolute best out of it for the vendors.”

Ms Raureti said it was also possible more people could come into the market with Tairawhiti's low Covid-19 numbers, meaning it was seen as a good place to live.

“It will potentially look different and we are prepared to do what we can to ensure we are delivering the best the market has.”

Property Brokers regional director Joe Snee said 25 properties were due for auction this weekend.

“Early indications coming out is buyer inquiry is really strong. There's still a lot of people pre-approved and looking for houses.

“We have an auction this weekend and that will give us a good litmus test of where the market is at.

“There's just as many, if not more, buyer inquiries than pre-Covid.”

Mr Snee expected plenty of activity over the next two months while people still had mortgage approvals and people who had sold pre-Covid looked to move into new homes.

“Post that, I think we'll see more of the reality of what's going to happen over the next 12 months, but who knows what that will look like?”