As expected, there was a substantial rise in days on the market in January with the Christmas period moving the median to 37. Sales volumes were also down with only 138 sales in January which was 20% lower than January 2017. The median sale price has come back a little from $380,000 in December to $362,500 but this sort of statistical variation often appears with a reduced number of sales.

Commentators are predicting that interest rates will hold around the current level, reinforced by the Reserve Bank not increasing the Official Cash Rate in its recent announcement. When coupled with the banks being permitted to hold more lending for lower equity borrowers, there is an expectation that buyer activity will continue to be strong.

The number of properties coming to the market is now well balanced with the number of sales. There have already been over 350 properties listed since the start of the year. This is providing good choice for buyers and we’re not seeing the constant reduction in available stock that we saw this time last year.

The pressure remains in the rental market with multiple applicants on almost every property and very little new investment property being introduced to the market.

Joe Nidd AREINZ
Owner/Principal

Liz Nidd FREINZ
Team Mentor/Director