'Astounding' recovery in Auckland house sales since Covid hit, REINZ says

More houses sold in Auckland during the first seven months than in the same period last year, despite the coronavirus lockdown and its effects on the economy.

The residential property market was recovering more quickly than had been expected when the country was under level 4 lockdown in March and April. Auckland had already made up lost ground, and the rest of the country was quickly catching up too, said Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) chief executive Bindi Norwell.

“The fact that the Auckland region has already seen more properties sold in the first seven months on the year when compared to 2019 is astounding. Part of the uplift is a result of this pent-up demand we’ve seen for a few months, but it’s coupled with the return of ex-pats from offshore, the low interest rate environment and also the wider confidence people have in the market thanks to schemes such as the mortgage holidays and wage subsidies,” she said.

The above article was published by Bindi Norwell of REINZ about a month ago - it would be fair to comment that the above result was not expected by most commentators when Covid 19 hit NZ in February! And now we are just a few weeks away from the NZ Election with promises to remove the RMA from the building landscape to make developments easier and less costly. Small or tiny homes, Kiwibuild re-boost and the Unitary Plan in Auckland all are positive signs that will over time, reduce the housing shortage. Big infrastructure construction plans should also be positive for the business community and economy generally. Assuming that whoever gets elected honours their promises with drive and energy!

Mortgage interest rates are expected to drop to a low of around 1.75% pa which will continue to make purchasing property more affordable for more people. This is attracting larger investors back into the market and with mainstream banks support hopefully improving in 2021 for the construction and development industry, a new chapter of our new journey with a real buzz of team collaboration will lift the property sector significantly. 2021 could be a GREAT year for real estate in NZ! Let’s face it – 2020 was, for a whole lot of reasons, one of the most miserable years for in some cases, the living memory of  some people.

Here are Mars Realty Group, our extensive contacts with large landowners and developers over 2 decades means we have active buyers and sellers working with us on some very large projects but also the Unitary Plan is assisting smaller projects to become viable financially for the first time on smaller plots of land. We have extensive expertise in matching buyers and sellers together in this environment so do call us to assist you – you will be pleasantly surprised at what we can achieve for you – the market is hot!

https://marsrealty.co.nz/property/654-inland-road-helensville