The stats are out for December 2023 and it’s interesting to observe some changes post-election. The median value rose from $597,000 the month previous to $613,000. The median days to sell dropped slightly from 34 to 31, and there were 167 sales for the month compared to 133 for the same month in 2022. These results may be a reflection of what agents are seeing at the coal face, and that is a rise in positivity.

There continues to be good activity from first-home buyers which makes sense as they are still not competing with large numbers of investor buyers. This must just be a matter of time surely, as the new government has flagged April 1st this year to re-introduce some tax deductibility from interest rates, albeit at 60% to begin with and slowly heading back to 100% tax deductibility by 2026. The other significant change is the return to a 2-year Brightline period for all properties rather than the current 5 years for new builds and 10 years for existing homes.

A few investors have popped out of the woodwork recently and chosen to buy now ahead of those changes while prices remain stable. But mortgage brokers report large numbers doing their figures and getting ready to buy. If we see any further increase in median values they may choose to move sooner rather than later so we urge first-home buyers to get into the market now. It remains a great time to upgrade your existing home.

It’s a bit early to say whether this increase is the start of a trend, but there’s no doubt in our minds that the bottom of the market has come and gone. Prices may remain stable for some time as Dunedin historically has done in the past, but we look forward to reporting in the next few months.