Provincial and coastal markets picked to improve

Harcourts New Zealand chief executive Bryan Thomson says compared to the dark days of 2008, there has been significant improvement in the residential real estate market in the major metropolitan centres this year.

"There has been a marked increase in the volume of house sales and prices have been positively impacted in recent months by the imbalance between supply and demand, however overall sales numbers in most locations remain below historic averages."

He says provincial centres have not been as buoyant as the cities, partially because the rural economy has slowed and as a consequence of the financial environment.

"Property investors appear to have been more cautious about provincial locations in the last year, while the volume of farm sales dropped right off and demand for coastal property lowered too."

He believes improvement in the provinces next year will be stimulated by attractive floating mortgage interest rates, far better than predicted unemployment figures and positive immigration.

"Improvement in dairy farm income should have a positive impact on provincial areas too and we should start to see farms sales improving as well."

Thomson says Harcourts also expects to see more activity in coastal areas with the easing economic situation helping to renew interest in baches and sections in coastal locations.