Sunny Marewa, selling fast. Photo / Warren Buckland
Hawke's Bay suburbs Marewa and Akina are some of the fastest-selling property markets in the whole of New Zealand, new research shows.
Figures from CoreLogic and data analysis conducted by CoreLogic and OneRoof show that for the 12 months to June, the median selling time for houses in Marewa was just 13 days - In the rest of New Zealand, only Springvale in Whanganui (12 days) and Awapuni in Palmerston North (11) achieved a faster median selling time.
A total of 122 houses sold in Marewa, over the 12 month period, with a median price of $395,150.
The figures also showed that property in the Akina suburb of Hastings took just a day longer to sell than in Marewa, making Akina the sixth fastest-moving suburb in New Zealand.
A total of 129 properties were sold there, achieving a median price of $395,150.
Bayleys Hawke's Bay regional operations manger Kerry Geange said he was not surprised about the statistics and said he expected the popularity of both suburbs to continue, especially given their attraction with different types of buyers.
"Marewa in Napier and Akina in Hastings are always popular and in the 'sweet spot' of the Hawke's Bay market. They are both areas in high demand with a lot of appeal to a wide range of market sectors, meaning higher competition which can result in a faster sale.
"Buyers in these suburbs are also often ready to buy quickly, with cash in the bank, or finance pre-approved enabling them to make very clean offers attractive to vendors."
Tremains managing director Simon Tremain said Marewa had always been popular but had previously been under-valued.
"There's lots or Art Deco character there as well. A lot of the homes have been refurbished, so you're picking up nice homes and there's opportunities for subdivision because there are some big sections there."
Tremain added with Teh first-home buyer market so "hot" investors were increasingly selling up, allowing more homeowners to move in.
Property Brokers regional manager Paul Whitaker said there had been "frenzied" interest from buyers in both areas, which was down to the "value for money" aspect.
"It's slightly more affordable housing, I would say it's value for money housing in good areas, still fairly close to town but in an affordable price-bracket."
Whitaker added that some properties were coming online with multiple offers from buyers already on the table.
"There are a lot of properties, with multiple offers on them that we could sell on the day they come to market but it's not in the vendors best interest, so we like to have a true test of the market and have an open home and we have just seen buyer frenzies on good properties."
Harcourts Hawke's Bay general manager James Cooper said Akina and Marewa had benefited from a "perfect storm" of circumstances.
"Both Marewa and Akina are attracting interest from not only investors, but also first home buyers looking to get on the property ladder.
"Purchasers looking to buy in this section of the market are operating in a very competitive space. The high demand and lower than normal supply, is creating somewhat of a perfect storm, leading to lower days on the market when compared to other areas in Hawke's Bay and New Zealand."
For new residents to Marewa, there could also be the added attraction of officially having New Zealand's best bakery (2018) on the doorstop.
Heaven's Bakery owner Jason Heavens said he had noticed a few new faces coming into the bakery.
"We've been here for 21 years and it's a really nice area with nice people, it has just got a lovely village feel. It's just such a centralised place within Napier with long-standing stores as well."
New Zealand's fastest selling suburb is Awapuni, a largely residential area in Palmerston North's south east that borders Massey University and is popular with students. According to CoreLogic data, homes there typically spent just 11 days on market before selling, and have a median value of $373,750.
OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan said nationwide, the data indicated that fast-movers to be cheaper and where value growth is higher.
"Affordability seems to be the biggest driver of quick sales," he said.
"The most promising results came from affordable locations, meaning a lower accessible buy-in price and more substantial upside."
CoreLogic and OneRoof looked at 293 suburbs across New Zealand that had recorded 100 sales or more in the year ending June 2018, and identified 62 locations where properties spent three weeks or less on the market before selling.
The number of fast-moving suburbs was up slightly on the year ending June 2017, and was consistent with the generally slow and steady activity in the wider market, Vaughan said.
See how your suburb rates:
https://www.oneroof.co.nz/news/35185