Hamilton real estate market repricing itself, offering bargains for buyers

The Hamilton real estate market is going through a repricing, one agency recording the lowest sales volume for July since 2004 and vendors choosing to lower their listing prices as the market continues to weaken.

Lodge Real Estate Director, Jeremy O’Rourke, says vendors should be pricing their homes tight to meet the market and ensuring they do their homework on what similar properties are selling for in their area.

“The market is being repriced. Agents are telling vendors the cold hard truth about what their properties are worth in the current market and we’re finding vendors are lowering their prices after their properties are already listed for sale,” says O'Rourke.

For buyers it meant there were bargains on the market, but the only way they could make that assessment was if they were also closely watching the sales values too, says O’Rourke.

“There are some real bargains out there, but the question is, can buyers spot those bargains? Buyers need to understand what properties are selling for now and do their homework.”

Lodge’s statistics for July show the agency’s number of sales is the lowest on record since 2008, barring one year in 2010.

Agents were also finding some properties were now selling for below their current CV, says O’Rourke.

“Property prices are not what they were 18 months ago, they’re not even what they were in December. The market has changed very quickly but we believe it will switch back just as fast,” says Jeremy.

There are currently more than 1000 properties on the market in Hamilton which equated to five months’ worth of stock, giving buyers plenty of choice and making it harder for vendors to have their properties stand out, says O’Rourke.

He says one positive feature of the current market is that Hamilton city is rapidly growing, and 35 percent of rentals signed in July went to people moving into the city from out of town, up from 25 percent in June.

“There are a lot of people taking six-to-12-month rental leases before they decide to buy thinking the market will continue to come back but the reality is it will change quickly so our advice is when you find good value in a property, don’t wait,” says O’Rourke.