The Greenhithe team had the best January ever! Whilst new listings are very low in number, we were lucky to have a number of vendors commit to marketing their homes and delighted to have a rapid response for a number of them.

Since the Greenhithe office has 16 people working in sales and can draw on the buyer base of all Barfoot & Thompson branches, we are proud to have a dominant market position in the area. For vendors this means we can offer more buyers in a shorter period of time - which is likely to result in offers based on market competition, offering the chance of that quicker sale with a better price.

We are especially proud to see this apparent in all price and housing brackets- from sections to million dollar  properties. To see our current listings please click here.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS:

• 994 new dwellings, incl. apartments, authorised in December. The lowest in a December since the series started in 1965.
• The world [commodities] price index increased for the fifth consecutive month in January, up 73.9% on Jan 2009. [NZ Herald 2/2/11]
• Reserve Bank of NZ leaves OCR at 3% and economists now pick September as the likely date for next rise .
• Sentiment likely to lift with Rugby World Cup .
• In Auckland, November domestic guest nights were up 52,000 or 20.8 per cent [on Nov 2009]. [NZ Herald 19/1/11]
• The average weekly rent for January was $416, up $5 on December and $15 higher than last January. [Barfoot & Thompson]. Currently rental demand is very strong and pressure on rents (especially in the central city and North Shore) is very obvious - so watch this space!

PREDICTIONS:

Economists suggest the market is likely to remain stable for the first half of the year with a likelihood that the inherent shortage of properties will start to feature more and more as the year goes on, putting pressure on both rental and sale prices. As the overall economy continues to come out of the low growth period and wage and job growth resumes,  house prices are likely to find increasing support.