Housing market in Hawke's Bay still has plenty of life

Hawke's Bay's median house prices in September rose $40,000 on that of the same time last year.

The median Hawke's Bay house price in September was $360,000, according to the latest REINZ figures, $40,000 higher than September last year.

For the same period, the median number of days it took to sell a house fell nine days to 30, compared with a 10-year Hawke's Bay average of 44 days.

The booming Auckland market's September figure for the median number of days it took to sell a house was 33 days.

Ray White managing director Elanor MacDonald said most properties were being sold by a form of deadline sale, such as tender or auction.

"Most of them are selling at that time, rather than after," she said.

"A lot of those processes have been shortened down - where we would have had a three-week campaign now we might only have a two-week or even a one-week campaign in some cases, depending on the type of property and the level of demand."

She said the $300,000 to $400,000 market sector was the most buoyant, followed by $200,000 to $400,000.

According to the REINZ figures, the region would have a 10-week supply of houses at current sale volumes, if there were no new listings - a drop of 43 per cent over the past 12 months.

Property Brokers Hawke's Bay manager Paul Whitaker said there was a "massive shortage of properties" and because of low interest rates prices were "going through the roof".

"We did an auction yesterday that sold $70,000 above vendor expectations," he said.

"We are still finding there is still outside pressure from Auckland buyers in our region that is putting pressure on our already heated housing market."

Tremains Real Estate managing director Simon Tremain said the Hawke's Bay median price was currently at the $320,000 to $330,000 level.

"The median price is up $50,000 year-on-year, so everyone's house has moved up approximately 20 per cent in value," he said.

He said the market was taking a "bit-of-a-breather" but he was confident of a strong sales period through to 2017.

Interest rates would stay low, if not go lower, so the local market could surge again, he said.

"Hopefully the median price will start heading towards $350,000 early next year."

While the meteoric Auckland market had levelled off in September, whichever way it went would not affect Hawke's Bay this year.

"It took a while for our market to take off whereas Auckland's market had already taken off, so when Auckland's market comes back I believe there is still life in our market for a little bit longer."

Sales volumes in Hawke's Bay rose by 2 per cent compared with August, with sales rising 19 per cent in Napier and 7 per cent in Hastings, but falling across the rest of the region.

Compared with September 2015 sales volumes rose 1 per cent, with sales rising 26 per cent in Hastings, 11 per cent in Dannevirke and 1 per cent in Napier.