OneRoof: Whanganui property market slowing

Higher deposits and tighter lending criteria have not deterred first home buyers in a slowing market. Photo / Bevan Conley

The latest OneRoof Report shows the Whanganui housing market is beginning to slow down.

OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan said the local market is "showing signs of fatigue" as the rolling quarterly change in the region's average property value has shrunk from an 11.3 per cent increase at the end of April with the three-month growth rate to just 3.6 per cent [+$23,000] in the three months to November 15.

That is well below the current national quarterly growth rate of 5.9 per cent.

"Slowdowns in quarterly growth in Whanganui (1.8 per cent) and Ruapehu (-2.1 per cent) are having a drag effect on the region as a whole.

"The surge at the start of the year has come at a cost. The 20 per cent deposit on a typical Whanganui home is now $133,000, which is $31,800 more than in November 2020."

Whanganui mortgage adviser Aaron Stampa said he had noticed a slowdown in the market.

"Prices seem to be dropping a little and more quality properties [are] coming onto the market," he said.

He said vendors looking to offload poor-quality properties at the top of the market had "missed the boat", and were either not listing or being listed at a more realistic market value.

"Vendors and agents are becoming more accommodating to offers having conditions again, such as building reports and LIM reports," Stampa said.

That was a big sign that the market was shifting - when agents were having to negotiate sales rather than selling to the highest cash or unconditional offer, he added.

Stampa said buyers - both home movers and first-time buyers - were becoming savvier and not buying into panic buying and the FOMO [Fear of Missing Out] mentality.

"I've had some buyers walk away from agents who have been pushy like that, and the property has ended up with no offers on the deadline date."

Vaughan said rising prices had not wholly deterred first-home buyers in Whanganui, however, and their share of new mortgage registrations had moved from 29.9 per cent in the first quarter of this year to 35.8 per cent in quarter three, after hitting a high of 38.3 per cent in the second quarter.

Whanganui's average property value had jumped 31.1 per cent [+$136,000] to $573,000 in the 12 months to November 15.

Of the suburbs that recorded 20 or more settled sales this year, Aramoho recorded the strongest quarterly growth, with the suburb's average property value growing four per cent [$19,000] to $494,000.

Over the same period Castlecliff's average property values grew just 0.2% ($1,000) to $428,000.

Just six of the city's suburbs now have an average property value of less than $500,000 (down from 10 in September) when the last property figures were run).

They are: Aramoho - $494,000, Whanganui East - $491,000, Gonville - $456,000, Whanganui central- $439,000, Castlecliff - $428,000 and Kaiwhaiki - $399,000.

Property Brokers Whanganui manager Ritesh Verma said his branch had not experienced fewer recent sales.

"We still have plenty of listings and the prices remain consistent, averaging around $500,000," he said.

The company had sold about 70 properties in the last month, which was on a par with the same time last year, Verma said.

"What we are seeing is that properties are taking slightly longer to sell and we are not seeing the same number of offers on individual properties. Last year, we might have seen 10 offers on the same property, whereas now that is likely to be around four."

Verma said first-home buyers were still making up a sizable proportion of the market, although lending criteria were tighter.

Investors' share of property purchases slid from 30.1 per cent at the start of the year to 22 per cent in quarters two and three, but so far in quarter four their share has grown to 29.9 per cent.