Right price is vital

Press, 6 September 1989, Page 57

Right price is vital

By

GREG JACKSON

The South Island property market is spearheading a firming of prices in the wake of recent mortgage rate cuts, according to Mr Roger Stark, the president of the Canterbury/Westland Real Estate Institute.

“It is a reversal of the traditional norm in that the market drive is shaping up in Dunedin and Invercargill where there is a shortage of listings,” he says. “This usually serves as an indication that the market is firming.” However, Mr Stark is keen to caution the public and his real estate peers that this firming up does not mean that higher-priced properties will suddenly become easy sales. In Christchurch the lowerpriced properties that have sold well for more than a year have now been joined by the uppermiddle and there is renewed interest in properties at the top end of the market, Mr Stark says. One factor leading to this renewal is the emergence of spring, traditionally a busy time for house sales.

However, the economic thaw and consequent upturn in public confidence are also relevant to the revived interest.

"The ground rules still apply however and an agent will be doing a vendor the best service

by pricing a home realistically,” says Mr Stark. “To achieve a rapid sale at present a property should be priced within the market range that can achieve a favourable buyer response.” Bearing.in mind the accepted convention that the majority of house prices cited have some leeway for movement, Mr Stark says that an agent should be able to price accordingly. “A good agent should be able to set a price that falls within 10 per cent of the final selling price,” he says. “Sure, the market is firming up but accuracy with the current market appraisal is still vital.” Roger Stark believes that nationally people have emerged from the post-crash “blues” and are looking anew at property at a time when it is in a “very realistic period.” “It was the very top end of the market that became extremely overheated during the stock boom and that suffered accordingly after the crash,” he said. Finally, he believes that bricks and mortar are looking extremely attractive to investors as interest rates continue their downward trend.

“We are now at the tip of the scales where the lenders to hanks become borrowers,” says Mr Stark.