“It doesn’t mean it is translating into immediate properties being sold,” he said. “But it does mean people are getting their ducks in a row.”
He said a lot of people were speaking to real estate agents about prices and market information.
Holland said while it was difficult to predict, the real estate market was likely near “the bottom” and could be on the way back up.
“You can’t pick the bottom of the market, but if we are not there, we are very close.”
It comes after a year of falling house prices throughout 2022.
Bayleys Hawke’s Bay general manager of residential sales Sally Jackson said buyer interest had picked up significantly in the past three weeks.
“There is definitely a lot more activity over the past three weeks,” she said.
“We have probably been the busiest we have been this side of Christmas, and over the past three weeks, activity levels have definitely been reported as being heavier, which has been really good.”
As of late last week, about 10 per cent of the nearly $890 million worth of insurance claims related to Cyclone Gabrielle across the country (more than half of which relates to Hawke’s Bay) had been paid out.
Insurance Council of New Zealand spokesman Christian Judge said “within a matter of months, I think most claims will be settled”, although some claims were complex and would take much longer.
A prospective buyer in Hawke’s Bay, who did not want to be named, said there had been a noticeable increase in people attending open homes.
That included about 30 people attending an open home in Taradale and about 15 to 20 people attending two open homes in Havelock North on Sunday.
“That is unusual. The real estate agent said things are picking up.”
