Trying times

When Auckland, followed by Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, began to wade out of the residential property mire in the middle half of 2009, the provincial cities and towns waited patiently for their turn. But it never really came.

The year started as 2008 finished - miserly sales and sliding median prices across the country. No one was selling unless they had to. Better to refinance at super-low interest rates and ride things out.

But the autumn breathed fresh life into the market in Auckland, and then the other main centres. The talk of post-recession green shoots was enough to satisfy buyers the bottom had been reached - with prices down almost 10 per cent across the whole country - and in they climbed on the back of cheap mortgage money.

There may not have been a lot of buyers, but there were certainly more of them than sellers. The result: houses started selling quickly, with multiple offers and auction bids pushing up values right through the winter.

By year's end in the main centres, supply had started to edge up, swallowing much of the demand and putting pressure on prices. But it was a welcome spurt for homeowners and real estate companies, even if volumes were about half the levels of the market peak.

To read the full NZ Herald article, click here

Posted: 8 Mar 2010

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