‘Picking up’: Home-buyer interest growing in Hawke’s Bay post-cyclone

The housing market in Hawke's Bay is picking up with more interest from buyers. Photo / Warren Buckland

Real estate companies are reporting a rise in buyer interest and people attending open homes in Hawke’s Bay following Cyclone Gabrielle, partly due to people with early insurance payouts looking for new homes.

However, the majority of house insurance claims are still being settled in Hawke’s Bay, which means more buyers could be coming into the market in the coming months.

A real estate professional says “you can’t pick the bottom of the market, but if we are not there, we are very close”, given buyer interest is on the rise.

One prospective buyer says about 30 people attended an open home in Taradale on Sunday, while open homes in Havelock North were also busy on Sunday, which was a big change compared to a month ago.

Sotheby’s International managing director for the central region, Fraser Holland, said he had noticed more buyer activity in Hawke’s Bay, with the cyclone one of the factors behind the rise.

“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.”