Hot off the press: Rotorua's fastest-selling suburbs

Property in Rotorua is hot, hot, hot! Real estate agents say suburbs with a more affordable housing market are selling fast. Some areas in the city have made CoreLogic's list of fastest-selling suburbs. Property reporter Zoe Hunter looks into which of the city's suburbs are spending the least amount of days on the market. Real estate agents also share their knowledge on what type of property buyers are snapping up and what they are leaving a little more time to think about.

Mangakakahi is Rotorua's fastest-selling suburb, new data has revealed.

The latest CoreLogic data showed the parts of Rotorua in which houses spent the least number of days on the market in the last year, and houses in Mangakakahi sold the quickest.

Houses in the small suburb of about 1005 houses sold within a median of eight days on the market and had a turnover rate of 3.2 per cent. The suburb recorded 32 sales in the past 12 months.

Houses in Glenholme took the longest to sell.

Homes for sale in Glenholme spent a median 34 days on the market with a turnover rate of 3.1 per cent. Forty-six sales were recorded in the suburb in the past year.

CoreLogic senior research analyst Kelvin Davidson said fast-moving areas with high turnover rates and low days to sell were simply where people wanted to live.

"Population growth is high and people are buying up houses. So property that goes onto the market sells pretty quick."

Areas with a low turnover rate were generally more expensive and there was not as much demand from buyers, Davidson said.

OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan said nationally, suburbs with a higher percentage of affordable homes were seeing shortened sales windows.

"Buyers are looking for affordable entry points into the market and competition for these homes is driving prices lifts in these areas."

First National principal and Rotorua REINZ spokeswoman Ann Crossley said sales in Mangakakahi would be driven by investors and first-home buyers.

"First-home buyers have seen everything in the market so when fresh stock comes on to the market, they want it. And investors don't have to stay emotionally attached to their properties."

However, Crossley said eight days was really tight.

"I expect that properties would take about 10 to 15 days to sell," she said.

Crossley said houses that stayed longer on the property market were a result of people selling up and moving out of family homes into units.

"People making those decisions might want to take a bit more time."

Tremains Real Estate Rotorua manager Malcolm Forsyth said houses were selling fast across the city, but eight days was realistic.

"Rotorua is selling well at the moment, areas are selling fast. It is fair to say anything between $350,000 and $450,000 in the first-home buyer market is selling well."

Forsyth said houses were selling quickly because of a shortage of stock.

"The demand is there, but the supply is not. Interest rates are low. It has never been cheaper or a better time to borrow money and people are taking advantage of that."

Simon Anderson, chief executive of Realty Group, which operates Eves and Bayleys, said there was a housing shortage in Rotorua.

"Anywhere that is affordable is going to sell quickly," he said.