First-home buyers still absent: Survey

A net 77% of agents are seeing fewer of them in the market.

Chief economist Tony Alexander said: “This wholesale withdrawal of a class of buyers who earlier this year accounted for near 24% of dwelling sales helps explain why the REINZ sales data for November released last Thursday showed sales to all parties down 6.6% from November 2012.”

The survey found 15.3% of sales are now to first-home buyers, down from 23.6% in March.

A net 16% of agents feel that it is now a buyer’s market and just a net 12.5% now feel prices are rising compared with 22.8% last month and 51.2% in September.

A record low net 51% of agents said they were seeing fewer people at open homes. They are seeing slightly more investors in the market and although homes are not selling as well under the hammer, deals are often being done immediately after the auction.

Alexander said despite, this price pressures were likely to stay on the market through 2014 as migration boomed and employment growth was strong.

“The Reserve Bank looks certain to achieve its primary goal of reducing the proportion of bank lending undertaken at high LVRs. However their subsidiary goal of curtailing the speed of house price rises may be only minimally achieved.”