Aucklanders eyes on buying Bay properties

Hawke's Bay homes are popular with non-Bay people.

Auckland interest in Hawke's Bay properties is increasing considerably, according to two real estate listings websites.

Auckland views of Hawke's Bay properties listed on realestate.co.nz were up 251 per cent for the year to July 31 compared with the same period last year.

Trade Me figures show 20 per cent of recent Hawke's Bay property views on its site came from Auckland compared with 11 per cent of views at the same time last year. Fifty per cent of recent local property views came from Hawke's Bay itself, compared with 66 per cent last year.

The Trade Me figures compared views of current listings over 30 days with views made during the same amount of time last July.

Property Brokers' regional manager for Hawke's Bay, Paul Whitaker, said the company was receiving new inquiries from Auckland every day.

A lot of Aucklanders were snapping up investment properties in the area, due to new restrictions soon to be placed on investors. From October, residential property investors in the Auckland council area will need a deposit of at least 30 per cent.

Mr Whitaker said Property Brokers had received an offer, sight unseen, from an Aucklander.

He thought Aucklanders realised they'd had their capital gain and were trying to "get two bites of the cherry" while the rest of the country caught up.

The Auckland interest was "fantastic", he said.

The new arrivals had equity to invest in business and could create jobs. New people coming into the area would also enable its infrastructure to become more solid.

Hawke's Bay Today reported Bay house sales were up 60 per cent this July, compared with the same time last year.

Mr Whitaker said Aucklanders played a part in the increased sales. Low interest rates and inflation were other factors.

According to REINZ, there were 8121 dwelling sales nationally this July, up 37.8 on July 2014 and 9.4 per cent on June 2015.

The national median price was $465,000 for July, an increase of 11.8 per cent on July 2014 and 3.3 per cent from June.

REINZ chief executive Colleen Milne said the volume of sales had been exceptionally good for the middle of winter throughout New Zealand, with strong year-on-year sales growth in the top half of the North Island and Central Otago Lakes.

"Backing this is strong anecdotal evidence of Aucklanders buying in these regions as owner-occupiers and investment properties."NZME