Record house sales in March

Press, 4 May 1984, Page 4

Record house sales in March

Christchurch’s house market is riding high, according to the Multiple Listing Bureau which achieved record sales in March. It sold 284 properties and had 572 listed; the highest figures for any month in its 27-year history. The average sale price was $59,363, producing a total value of about $l7 million. It was an appropriate climax to what had been a very good financial year. In 1983-1984 the bureau made 2775 sales, a 25 per cent improvement on the 19821983 figure and another record. ■ ' The sales to listings ratio

climbed from 41 per cent to 55 per cent in the 12-month period and the average price rose from $48,788 to $56,899, an increase of $BOOO or 16.4 per cent. The total value of sales made was $l5B million which beat the 1982-1983 record of $lOB million by almost 50 per cent. However, this buoyancy was not reflected in the number of property transfers registered at the Lands and Deeds Office in Christchurch. Figures there show that sales turnover has dropped steadily over the last three years. In 1983-1984, 17,410

changes of ownership were recorded compared with 19,866 in 1982-1983 and 24,855 in 1981-1982, an uninterrupted downward slide which seems to contradict the rosy picture created by the bureau’s figures. The president of the Canterbury and Westland branch of the Real Estate Institute, Mr lan Grant, attributed the discrepancy to a drop in rural and section sales.

He said that this had had less impact on the Multiple Listing Bureau’s turnover because it dealt almost exclusively with residential properties.

While the house market was lively, “not booming but good and steady,” few farms had been offered for sale in the last two years and had proved difficult to sell.

Mr Grant predicted that section prices would rise steeply soon. He said that most of those on the market now had been developed between 1979 and 1981 when a surplus had been created. However, the supply was fast running out. New subdivisions were needed and their prices would reflect 1984 development costs, “a pretty hectic jump” above those of 1980, he said.