Hamilton’s property market is bucking the national trend, with an uptick in November sales as first home buyers and investors seek bargains and lock in interest rates before they rise further.
Lodge Real Estate Director Jeremy O’Rourke says both sales and settlements in the Hamilton market picked up in November after a very slack October.
“Our figures for November will finish up with around 200 sales, an increase on 170 in October. There is renewed interest in the Hamilton market, particularly in the first home and investor sectors,” says Jeremy.
The uptick bucks the national trend with recent surveys by the Real Estate Institute finding nearly half of all agents (48 percent) were seeing less people at open homes, less people in auction rooms and less sales overall.
“We would normally start to see listings drop off going into December but we’re seeing an increase in listings and well marketed properties are selling,” says Jeremy.
He says experienced investors are keeping an eye out for bargains with property prices forecast to fall further, up to 20 percent, by 2023.
Investors had renewed interest as rental yields improved with prices coming back but rents still rising, says Jeremy.
“Many investors are predicting there will be even greater opportunities in the real estate market in 2023 but they are already active and looking in Hamilton,” says Jeremy.
Total Mortgages Director, Jordan Cameron, says first home buyers have their deposits together and wanted to lock in current interest rates before they increased further with the Reserve Bank’s Official Cash Rate expected to peak at 5.5 percent in 2023.
“We had our biggest month ever in November and we’re tracking to increase on that in December. There is a lot of activity happening in the Hamilton market across all sectors from first home buyers and investors,” says Jordan.
Around 37 percent of people who rented homes through Lodge Rentals in November were from out of town pointing to ongoing interest in the city as a place to live and work, says Jeremy.
“A lot of those people are professionals who are coming to the city. They want to rent until they understand the suburbs and where they want to buy. Those people will be buyers in the 2023 property market,” says Jeremy.
