Delta has arrived in NZ – so what happens to Real Estate here now?

Well, what a difference a week makes. We are now following Australia, with cases of delta swirling around Auckland/Coromandel and now Wellington. Heaven forbid it gets to the South Island but I think we need to unfortunately prepare for the inevitable.

We have been following the news in Australia and generally New Zealand tends to follow suit and Real Estate is no different. I noticed that NSW had 646 cases of COVID-19 delta recorded yesterday - will we follow this trend? Possibly!

So, what will housing prices do? In NZ there is all-time low level of stock, and we are seeing unprecedented prices being achieved. They just seem to be going higher. This is a function of people paying whatever they need to do just to get on the ladder. Coupled with low interest rates and no where else to park lazy money - prices keep breaking records.

With the announcement of Delta on our shores the Reserve Bank of New Zealand immediately put the OCR rate hike on hold. Very similar to what happened in Australia, and rates may stay at these levels for longer than expected – likely to put further property price increases in the mix.

In Australia & NZ you are seeing many opportunists selling a home and making huge gains in just 6-12months of ownership.  For example, something valued only 6-12months ago at $1.5m might now sell for $2.2m+. Tell me where else you can make $500,000 to $700,000 in 6 to 12 months normally? The opportunists are profiting like no tomorrow and why wouldn’t they?

If I had a property right now, I would be selling it. Where would I live though once sold? There is no-where to move into? True. But I believe this is about to change.

I was listening to Tom Panos (a well-known real estate coach/mentor in Australia) predicting the same as many Australian economists – there will be a tsunami of house sales coming in the spring and summer of 2021. He suggests getting ahead of the wave of listings and I agree. Become an opportunist and make the gain on these high sale prices is my advice. If you don’t, you may get caught selling in Spring competing with multiple listings. The fear of missing out will be well in truly gone putting downward pressure on price. Once the spring listings come to market you will also have an option to buy and move into a property - so that feeling of the ‘fear of nowhere to go’ will reduce.

*Hot Tip - sell your property now but have a longer settlement date. This gives you time to find your next home.

With this recent outbreak of COVID-19 in Australia & now NZ people are considering their next move. People will be worried about how they will sell their home during these extraordinary times. Proppy.co.nz has the technology along with skilled real estate salespeople to help you achieve your dream sale prices – online auctions and online negotiations to enable safe real estate transactions.

Best of luck out there! Consider becoming an opportunist and keep an eye on the Australian market and watch for trends. If you are thinking of selling, consider our technology and our fantastic team to help you navigate this new world of Real Estate.

Cheers,

Hannah

Hannah Walker

hannah@proppy.co.nz