Regional confidence attracts Bayleys

This Wanganui block on Kauangaroa Rd has added to Bayleys' sold tally in recent times. PHOTO/SUPPLIEDMAN

Confidence in the lower North Island and an opportunity to invest in an established and robust real estate business has attracted the Bayleys Corporation's attention.

The parent company of Bayleys Coast to Coast is to take up a major shareholding in the company, which encompasses Hawke's Bay, Tararua, Wairarapa, Manawatu, Ruapehu and Wanganui.

Local country agent Pete Stratton is chairman of the Bayleys Coast to Coast board and says that, as a follow-up to the change in ownership, Bayleys Coast to Coast is moving forward with its aim of having specialist managers throughout the region supporting the teams of agents across country, commercial and residential, and is restructuring the management in parts of the business.

As part of this restructure, Stratton says he is thrilled to announce Gary Brooks, a director and experienced country agent and manager, has accepted the position of Bayleys Coast to Coast country manager. Brooks will lead the 18-strong specialist country sales team operating from northern Hawke's Bay to southern Wairarapa, and from Ruapehu down to Horowhenua.

"He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to help assist our vendors and agents in achieving the best possible result.

"His appointment will help drive the sharing of property knowledge, market information and buyer activity across the entire group," Stratton says.

The appointment also allows team leaders ( Stratton in Manawatu/Wanganui, and Glyn Rees-Jones in Hawke's Bay) to concentrate on servicing their farming vendors' requirements.

Brooks says positive rural market fundamentals and increased confidence have resulted in outstanding farm sales so far this financial year across the Bayleys Coast to Coast network.

Settled farm sales for the first five months of the current financial year across this office network total in excess of $90 million and that the robust farm sales can be attributed to a raft of external factors on the back of a concerted team effort amongst the country team, he says.

"This year's drought was one of New Zealand's most extreme, however a period of sustained rain in parts of the region, bracketed with Fonterra's increased forecast payout for 2013-2014, continuing strong international prices for dairy, the lower New Zealand dollar and low interest rates has seen positivity return to the market," says Brooks.

"New Zealand's farming economy is resilient and remains the backbone of this country.

"The last five months of healthy farm sales - particularly in Hawke's Bay and Wairarapa - is evidence of this. Rural property is enduring."

The rural sector has also seen a return to free market values unclouded by the uncertainty of stressed sales which defined the farm market during 2011-2012.

With lenders calling time on many corporate farm owners, independent farmers were reluctant to put their own properties on the market until those farms had been flushed out of the market and a "new normal" found.

In Hawke's Bay, the Bayleys country team has dominated the market, completing over 80 per cent of the sales recorded in the region for the first third of this financial year.

Brooks says the sale of Tautane Station, near Herbertville in southern Hawke's Bay, to Ngati Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated was the largest farm sale recorded in recent history in the region.

"Tautane is one of the North Island's biggest sheep and cattle stations with 12km of stunning coastline and had been in the same family for 111 years prior to this sale. The Taratahi Agricultural Training organisation will lease the land from iwi to set up a training facility," says Brooks.

The proposed Ruataniwha dam to be built on the Makaroro River in CHB, has fuelled interest in farm properties within the proposed catchment area.

"The proposed dam is certainly giving confidence to Hawke's Bay as it is a summer dry area and a lack of water is our Achilles heel. The dam would open up potential for further dairying and cropping opportunities in central Hawke's Bay."

In the Wairarapa, the Bayleys country team clocked up over $35 million of settled farm sales in the first five months of this financial year, including the high-profile sale of the former Macland property in Western Lake Road to US movie director James Cameron.

Stratton says the Bayleys Manawatu-Wanganui country team recorded close to $18 million of farm sales this year.

He says farm sales have rebounded in the greater Manawatu-Wanganui region and heartening results have been recorded right across the farm spectrum, including sales of mixed-use properties.

"Of note was the sale of a 91ha property in Golfcourse Rd, Ohakune suitable for stock finishing, cropping or market gardening which sold under the hammer for $1,900,000 - 29 per cent over the GV. The market truly spoke in this instance as there were eight potential bidders in attendance at the auction," says Stratton.

Other recent sales include a well-located 191.6ha dairy support unit in Rangiwahia Rd, Kimbolton which sold for $1,100,000 and a 1245ha property bounding the Ahu Ahu Stream in Kai iwi, Wanganui which also sold for $1,100,000 and which is destined for honey production.

Bayleys' established networks, extensive databases and leading marketing initiatives, combined with a specialised sales force on the ground working as a genuine team, are providing farm vendors with a proven pathway to a successful sales outcome, he says.

"With numerous other farm sales - including several large scale properties - currently in the process of being finalised across the Bayleys Coast to Coast network, the rural property market appears to be in good heart."