It’s certainly easy to see that Canterbury’s property markets have generally shown more resilience to the past 19 months of economic upheavals than most other regions within New Zealand – the only other exception being Queenstown.

And while we’re not fully out of the woods just yet, it’s heartening to see that with the general election now behind us, a period of economic stability looks to be arriving sooner rather than later – sustained particularly through high levels of employment across all sectors of the Canterbury economy.

From discussions the Bayleys Canterbury sales teams have had on a weekly basis with their networks and clients, it became evident that many of the prospective buyers and sellers in all market sectors were opting to hold off making any decisions during the August/September/October trimester as they awaited more policy certainty. We now have more visibility on what that might look like in early 2024.

For sellers, a change of government has subsequently delivered the prospect of a more favourable policy mix for landlords and property investors and thus an anticipated larger pool of prospective buyers which will ultimately improve prices.

This scenario is explained further by the Bayleys Canterbury residential investment property team’s Angela Webb in the following pages of this Selection magazine. Waiting a month or two for the election outcome could have looked like a good bet for anyone not in a rush to sell.

Bayleys Canterbury’s sales volumes have held relatively steady over the past few months. For example, in November, Bayleys Canterbury took 75 properties to auction on behalf of clients – achieving 45 sales from that catalogue equivalent to a 61 percent clearance rate. This success rate has Bayleys well placed against other auction houses in our region. Our auctions across the region attracted 277 attendees, of which 78 went on to bid – purchasing $56.66 million worth of property in the process. This is an increase in sales value of $24million from the October sales tally.

Meanwhile, in the shorter month of December, we have 43 auctions either being held as this edition of Selection magazine was going to print, or in the lead up to Christmas. The latest REINZ statistics for November have the median sales price for all of Canterbury at $700,000. This is up 2.9 percent on October 2023, up 5.3% percent on November 2022 and up from $640,000 on January 2023.

Sales volumes are also up in the same periods indicating more movement in the market. Just over 1,000 properties were traded in November 2023 (up from 880 in October 2023, up from 409 in November 2022 – a 2.5x improvement and the highest level for all of 2023). Vendors and buyers still need assistance adjusting their price expectations and the Bayleys Canterbury team are skilled at making this happen.

For now, I’d like to take this opportunity on behalf of all the team at Bayleys Canterbury to wish everyone around the region a very Merry Christmas. Please take the opportunity to relax with family and friends and recharge your batteries for 2024. We look forward to talking to you in the New Year.

In the meantime, should your browsing through this edition of Selection magazine uncover a fabulous property of interest or appeal, feel free to contact the Bayleys salesperson marketing the property for a chat on how we can assist in achieving your real estate dreams.