Understanding who your buyer is is a cornerstone to selling a house. Knowing who your key buyers are (or will be) and what their needs are can affect the value the Hamilton housing market places on your property—and how, whether and when you decide to buy, sell or invest.
Building up a “buyer profile”, as it were, relies on several sources of information. What age are they? Are they a family or a one person household? Where do they work? Do they have a car, or do they take public transport? However, while it’s easy to say what information you need, it’s not always easy to find.
So, without further ado, here are four resources to help:
Not sure what demographics to consider when you sell? Read about it here.
As part of its annual operations, Hamilton Council conducts community surveys to better understand the people and the needs of each Hamilton suburb. Inside each profile you’ll find information on:
Best of all, the layout of these profiles makes it easy to assess and compare various regions to each other, as well as identify different Hamilton housing market trends over wider areas. With this, you can assess the strengths and weaknesses of each area, the type of people who live within it and what their priorities may be. For example, if they are a particularly active neighbourhood, they may prioritise access to sporting facilities or outdoor reserves. Whereas, if they are an area with an older population, they may prefer homes that are close to public transport and health amenities.
The Hamilton Housing Market and Economy Growth Indicator Reports contain a wealth of information for home sellers—and buyers—to sink their teeth into. In addition to providing a good overview of the Hamilton housing market for the quarter, it also provides insights to:
You can read the February 2020 issue here.
This information can help you gauge the level of activity going on in and near your neighbourhood as well as assess the type of buyer your home will attract based on what the market is currently doing. For example, a poor housing affordability result may mean that you’re less likely to see first home buyers in the market. In a similar vein, if you’re located near a growth cell, you could see more investor interest in your property.
Explore Hamilton’s demographics with the Hamilton Council’s interactive city map. Using census data from 2006, 2013 and 2018, this map shows the profiles of Hamilton's 12 regions and the suburbs within them, including:
Figure.NZ pulls data from a host of partner organisations to provide Kiwis with simple, easy to find information on a variety of topics—including property. ASB, Statistics New Zealand, InternetNZ, the New Zealand Treasury, The Department of Internal Affairs and Chorus are just a few of their partners.
The real benefit of Figure.NZ is its ability to turn complex data into simple, intuitive graphics. Where once it would have taken hours of hunting to first find the data and then make sense of it, Figure.NZ can help you to quickly uncover data and trends such as:
The data Figure.NZ provides is particularly useful in understanding social and economic demographics in Hamilton. It can give you a good understanding of where people are working, how much they earn, the breakdown of homeowners to renters, and the strength of the local community. This information is particularly useful for assessing the level of demand for property in your area and why, as well as the financial situation your key buyers are likely to be in.
On top of your own research, it’s always worthwhile getting in touch with your local real estate agent. A good agent will have done their research, are tuned to what local buyers want and can offer unique insights and analysis about their current behaviours—both at a suburb, and sometimes even street level.
In addition to providing you with a comparable market analysis, they can also provide:
From overall Hamilton housing trends to suburb, even neighbourhood, specific fluctuations, your local real estate agent has a wealth of knowledge that’s really worth tapping into—even if it’s just to get a second opinion.