Just like the buyers came out of the woodwork over winter only to find slim pickings, vendors will be coming out in their droves this spring. Buyers will be rewarded with a little patience me thinks.

Surely the whole velocity of the market has dramatically slowed?
If less sellers are selling, then they aren't in a position to rebuy. I don't know many people who want to risk 'buying before they sell' just yet, so that only leaves multi owner properties as the majority of sellers. Maybe that's what it's all about! Redistribution of home ownership from multi to single ownership?

It's been that way in Wellington all year, this isn't news in Wellington.

Prices are remaining way too high because of a lack of stock.

Prices in the 'realistic' range (if there is one anymore) for FHB are too high, and these people are competing with the investors buying up more rentals for their portfolios.

RBNZ stuck in trap

if they force delerage it will be painfull
if they leave things alone the market will not deleverage like us etc

then when us raise int rates we will get slaughtered.

It is never a bad time to buy a house.
Property always goes up.
Haven't you heard, they are not growing any more land.
Buy NOW before you miss out again.

Of course, when interest rates go up and you find your "equity" diminishing in your "investment" , perhaps your friend the real estate agent will help you to pay your mortgage. LOL

Surely if the supply side (approximately) = new builds + sellers + investors selling up

and the demand side = sellers* + first time buyers + investors buying

(*selling to buy another, presumably the biggest part of the market)

Then a low number of properties on the market indicates low confidence of sellers about the buy market? ie it isn't a good time to buy.

The authorities concerned should publish monthly unemployment data rather than quarterly so that it provides a better understanding and serves as a reminder whether the surge in the property market is sustainable. However, it seems that we have more frequent news on property market and rising prices and lack of supply etc (many times a month), and not much discussion about unemployment rate monthly updates and mortgagee sales and the amount of debts resulting from home loans over the years. Where is this heading?

Here she comes folks:
CHRIS ZAPPONE 9:42am | The big four banks may still nudge up mortgage rates even if the RBA keep rates on hold today. The Age.
Nudge nudge, wink wink. Competitive of course and guess what they will do over this side of the ditch? So we are soon to see the rising cost of credit kick the guts out of house prices and let's not forget, suck even more cash out of the economy so it can go bye bye to the overseas savers. That'll help with the unemployment won't it!

Here in Wellington it seems that if a vendor has a decent, well maintained property and asks a reasonable price, it will sell in less than a week. I've looked at such properties and they get snaffled up pretty damned fast. On the other hand, the majority of properties (again, only from my observations) are in average condition and the vendors are unrealistic with their asking price - these ones sit on the market for months. Some have been on the market for 6 months plus. Doesn't that tell the vendor something?

Gee, SORRY Bernard I didn't swear once But understand what you'r saying OK.

Might be time too mellowdown a bit and listen to some Jonney Cash!

10/10 if you guessed the answer last week 2:

Q) "Can here a train a coming ..coming down the track...

A) EARTHQUAKE" oh and was centered in DIRE STRAITS too 12/10 if you picked that to.

Sorry gota go now to work Lucky Me so cant read the furious blogs that will shortly start arriving !

Johnny Cash is way cool , simon7 . JJ Cale too , particularly if you have some US cash , steeped in traces of cocaine . But the point Helms/Thompson & co. make is valuable to those active in their markets . Now is a window of opportunity for selling up , if you've been waiting to do so . And we are looking into a microcosm of time , a few months maybe . Beyond that , these market forces will have wandered off into new directions , as interest rates/unemployment rates/etc alter their dynamics ................ And if you have so much single malt whisky surging into your brain , that the synapses start exploding , a little blues , Ella Fitzgerald for instance , works a treat . .......So I am informed ! ( John Lee Hooker.......ice cool )

Rationally it is just a market stabalizing after quite a large drop, its just equilibrium returning with buyers and sellers squaring off.
Probably a sigh of relief from the real estate industry. I am not sure how they weight their stats but if you talk to anyone in the industry it is the bottom end of the market which is ticking along quite nicely which may well make the average sale price fall.
People should be happy normality has returned in that if you have a well presented house that is priced correctly it will sell.

I am affraid it's true, made two offers recently and each turned down. Both multi offer situations. Renovated/new houses in good areas seem to sell easily.

Yep, it seems pretty straightforward out there from the anecdotal stuff I've been hearing. If you're selling a good, well maintained house that has some nice modern touches, it'll sell and pretty quickly. You'll probably get a good price too, especially if you're also in a nice area and on a nice section.

However, if you're selling a place that is a bit run-down, poorly maintained, perhaps hasn't been renovated in years, perhaps it has a scruffy section or is in a poor location (next to a motorway or busy main road), then you're going to have to drop your price otherwise you'll be sitting on it for ages.

A lot of people still have to get that message though and are sitting tight on unrealistically priced old sheds, hoping the market will come up to them before they have to drop to find the market.

So.,..err... your saying, Alistair Helm is a muslim then, MattS ?.....

cheap cigarettes
wholesale cigarettes

Kate, apparentlly that's not happening -

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=1059...

But either way the RE Agents win! This article suggests that if potential vendors do NOT list then prices will be bumped up (win for RE agents) and if they DO list then they will win again, as per your theory. So in publishing an article like that, what do you suppose the RE industry is saying to potential vendors? I hear (if I was a potential vendor) "keep holding off so prices increase".......but once higher interest rates kick in and/or the homeowner loses their job there may be some that don't have much choice.

G..man, check out the containers mate. Why buy a rotten box when you could have one made of steel. Sure would sort the borer out.

I tend to agree that a good house in main city hots spots are very limited and getting good/multi offers. When we sold there were 58 houses in our area on offer just after Xmas at it's low it went to 8 a few months back and now has doubled to 16, still considered a hot market with multi offers.

On the other hand my uncle owns a large diary farm in the Waikato, talking to him at Xmas times were tough with land pricing taken a BIG hit, talking to him now it's even worse. He's safe as over the last 50 years he brought the next paddock when he had money in the bank, but his neighbor sold his farm two years ago for a grand price at the top of the market, to then reinvest and borrow hugely .. $11m...you can guess where he stands now in the recession, while my uncle plods along, with his 50 year old hay maker, (that he polishes after every day after use) weathering another storm and will survive. Actually he is building a new farm house after all these years, probably paid cash. He isn't worried about the land price crash and will continue to do the work he loves through another downturn and another peak.

There seems to be a big disconnect between the city hot spots and other major factors that are moving deeper south:
- farms prices reductions vs hotspots holding value
- Unemployment rising
- more shops closing, more office space vacant
- outlying property depressed
- Mortgagee sales on the increase
- NZ on cusp of 'fragile recovery', says NZIER
- Blue Chip companies profits most down...AirNZ 80%???
- retail sales down
- ....where is all the money that use to be in circulation....how many business can affort to pay their staff... for how long?

Bigger picture Overseas:
- unemployment rising (a US doco reported that the American unemployment is even larger than recorded as people give up registering after 18 months 2 years.
- China market falling further
- Property depressed WW
- USA just under 100 banks defaulted this year, 415 on critical watch list
- .....

I also find it interesting that the media will beat up farming or businesses on any bad news, but when it turns to residential property will pull their punches, write anything into "green shoots" and not take a balanced investigative aspect, just re-report housing hype produced by those that relay on the industry for a living (advertorial content). Maybe it's because the reports see the risk around their personal wealth vaporizing..."Turkeys voting for an early thanksgiving" comes to mind.

Ben Huynh : Unless you have something to say , clear off ! This is not for advertising . We are offering opinions on financial matters . What is your contribution ?

Roger, Have spammed Ben Huynuh, cheers, Alex