Agent survey shows little change

The 10,000 agents surveyed said prices seemed to be rising and sellers had the upper hand but there had not been any particularly strong trend in the past month compared to the month before to indicate a change in the market.

A net 26% of agents nationwide feel more people are going through open homes and 21% report more investors are on the scene. A net 36% say more young buyers are looking for properties.

A net 43% of agents think prices are rising, up from 41% in September. But sellers are seen as more motivated than buyers in a number of regions, including Northland, Waikato and Wellington.

There are other notable variations by region: In Auckland, a net 47.9% of agents report more first-home buyers, compared to -8.3% in Nelson.  Hawkes Bay and Manawatu reported the biggest increase in numbers of people through open homes.

Success at auction is perceived to have been improving strongly for months now and despite a strong net percentage of agents reporting more people thinking about selling, the survey report says that does not suggest a large increase in the number of properties for sale. Hawke's Bay is the only region not seeing an improvement in auction clearance rates and only agents in Taranaki had not seen an increase in requests for market appraisals.

Good interest rates and buying a first home are still the two biggest reasons why people are buying