Have we seen the botom of the slump

After releasiong the Levin Property Report and being pretty happy with what I saw I received a Weekly Overview from Tony Alexander the BNZ Chief Economist - with the text below included:

The numbers continue to indicate to ourselves that New Zealand’s housing market has been through its bad patch for this cycle but there is not underway a price response as such yet to the shortage of dwellings. This will eventually come but it is likely to be muted initially because of rising unemployment over the coming year, slow wages growth, and tighter lending standards by mortgage providers. But it seems worthpositioning for.
Key Forecasts
• Dwelling consent numbers to slowly recover from the middle of this year.
• Real estate sales have bottomed for this cycle. Activity is likely to fluctuate and begin a drift upward
before year end with potentially firm activity over 2010.
• House prices stabilising, rising slightly over 2010.

This is of course Tony's view at a macro (National Level) but its encouraging..

The July 2009 Levin Property Report is Released full of good news

REINZ have confirmed their monthly sales statistics and I've done the number crunching.

The news is good - sales are up, listings are decreasing which helps vendors acheive results and will prompt buyers to commit to written offers before good stock is removed from the market either by sale or with owners hibernating for winter.

The Levin Property Report is 100% free and is sent to subscribers by a nifty email alert system - join the alert by going to http://masonparker.co.nz/levinpropertyreport.php

The report breaks down Levin Property Listings and Levin Real Estate Sales - with trends now compared to historical patterns.

If I have been asked a question 1000 times it is "Are houses selling above or below Rateable Value (previously known as Government Value)" --- well I've added a graph and statistics so you can see for yourself.

Sick of seeing averages that don't relate to your house ...well view the June 2009 Sales Breakdown of 1, 2, 3, 4 bedroom sales.

What are you waiting for?

Subscribe now... http://masonparker.co.nz/levinpropertyreport.php

Residential Listings in Levin fall below 400

In the last month - while I've been monitoring the Levin Property Market I've seen the last two months with over 30 sales and have seen the Residential Levin Real Estate listings fall below 300 listings.
See here http://www.realestate.co.nz/residential/all/levin - its 389 Residential Listings for Sale in Levin on 8 July 2009.

In my view "This is great news for the market" because:

1. sales levels are higher than they have been for some time
2. listings reducing increases the chances of the right buyer finding your home for sale
3. it shows buyers and vendors are meeting on paper and selling at market driven prices - Levin buyers/sellers are making successful real estate decisions
4. buyers can see they can make offers and have an increased chance of buying their next home or invstment

For more detail subscribe to receive the Levin Property Report by email (it'll be updated very soon)

http://masonparker.co.nz/levinpropertyreport.php

Google maps Levin Real Estate

Wow Google offers so much value for free - They have just started mapping the real estate listings across all agencies.

Have a look for yourself and see if this is valuable or not

http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=levin&mrt=realestate&sll=-40.549287,175.208931&sspn=0.030392,0.076818&ie=UTF8&z=12

Is Levin Real Estate having surge?

I've just spoken to the Real Estate Institute about sales statistics being finalised before I analyse and publish what's happening with Levin Real Estate and its looking encouraging...

Residential Levin Property sales have been averaging a volume of 20-25 per month for some time now - but May 2009 jumped to 38 Residential Levin sales and this month so far is showing more than 30.

This is great for vendors and buyers alike as it is a measure of market confidence - in that vendors appear to be working with buyers and acheiving sales.

Watch this space -the Levin Property Report will tell it all! You can subscribe and receive it by email just by visiting http://masonparker.co.nz/levinpropertyreport.php

Levin Residential Listings fall below 400

I have been diligently tracking Levin Residential listing levels since I've been at Harcours Levin.

In November 2008 I saw the stock of residential listing rise above 300 for the first time ...http://www.noaddedfluff.com/2008/11/levin-residential-property-listings-at.html

Today I am happy to report that stock has fallen below 300 for the first time since I have ben tracking levels.

What does this mean?
Sorry but its still too early to say with complete certainty but it could well be an indication that stock levels are falling as more buyers are capitalising on the great property deals in Levin.

Sales have been averaging levels of under 25 per month for some time in Levin - May 2009 was 38 sales and I am anxiously waiting for the June sals to be confirmed by REINZ before I compile the next Levin Property Report.

There are some real positives to take out of the current market:

• a fall in stock levels is of course a good signal as it helps vendors gain better prices when supply is tighter and demand is high.
• the low interest rates stimulate buying as families and investors can afford to purchase
• 5 July 2009 there are 396 listings in Levin
• 5 July 2009 there are only 3 mortgagee sales in Levin CLICK HERE and I noticed this one doesn't use the mortgagee keyword but is clearly mortgagee SEE THIS ONE TOO - this means mortgagee sales are only 3/396 listings or approximately 0.76% of the Levin Residential housing market

Wait for the Levin Property Report - I will outline a few more trends that might help you make reliable Levin Real Estate Decisions

The NZ Property Report July 2009 is out

You can see the report here
http://www.realestate.co.nz/blog/nz-property-report-june-2009.html

Watch this space ...once REINZ confirms Levin Real Estate Sales data the Levin Property Report will be released (Monday/Tuesday all going well)

You can see last months Levin Property Report or subscribe to the free email alert and have it delivered to you by email as soon as its released just by going to:
http://masonparker.co.nz/levinpropertyreport.php

Alistair Helm author of "The NZ Property Report" mentions a continued fall in national housing stock - which is encouraging but certainly doesn't reflect what's happening here in Levin - with 414 listings our stock levels are stable.

I'll do my local Levin Real analysis and release the Levin Propert soon....feel free to ask me any questions before then.