The Star: June 15, 2023

The Star Thursday June 15 2023
4
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Where in the city can you
• By Nikki Preston
CHRISTCHURCH is proving
to be a hotspot for first-home
buyers who have been snapping
up properties at prices unheard
of in most other cities.
The majority of houses sold
under the hammer in the city’s
auction rooms last week were
in the $500,000s or under price
range. Most were snagged by
first-home buyers eager to finally
get on the property ladder.
Harcourts Gold salesperson
Cameron Bailey said houses in
the $400,000 to $800,000 price
bracket were
usually the first
to move – both
when the market
dropped and now
when it appeared
to be stabilising.
“What I think
Cameron
Bailey
is happening
is there’s an
acceptance of a
new norm. People
can clearly see that prices have
come back from where they were
a year or so ago and now it’s
exciting,” he said.
It was good for buyers because
a property worth $700,000 a
year ago is now probably worth
$600,000, he said.
In some areas a three-bedroom
home can be picked up for
somewhere in the vicinity of
$500,000. A three-bedroom
home in Te Rama Pl, Wainoni,
which has an RV of $480,000, is
going to auction at the end of the
month.
Bailey said while it was still
possible to purchase a property
in the $400,000s, stock in this
price range is scarce.
Last week he sold a modern
one-bedroom, one-bathroom
fully-furnished apartment on
Latimer Square for $442,000
after it was withdrawn and sold
during the auction.
At the same auction, a threebedroom
home on Peverel St
in Riccarton, marketed to both
first-home buyers and families,
sold for $535,000.
The apartment sold to an
investor, but Bailey said the
majority of properties in the
lower price range are being
bought by first-home buyers.
Of the eight properties sold at
Harcourts Grenadier’s auctions
last week, five were priced under
$600,000. A three-bedroom,
DEAL: A threebedroom
home on
Peverel St in
Riccarton,
marketed to
first-home
buyers or
families, sold
for $535,000.
Right - Six
bidders
battled it out
at a mortgagee
auction for this
property on
Masham Rd,
Broomfield.
one-bathroom home on
Chartwell St in Burwood
sold for $470,000 – $120,000
less than its RV. While a
three-bedroom, one-bathroom
home on James K Baxter Pl in
Spreydon sold for $577,500 –
$42,500 under its RV.
There were also six bidders
battling it out at a mortgagee
auction earlier in the week.
The three-bedroom house on
Masham Rd in Broomfield sold
under the hammer for $472,000,
$88,0000 less than its RV of
$560,000.
Ray White Metro sales and
auction manager Richard Withy
said people thinking they were
going to get a “deal or a steal” are
feeling a bit more confident now
interest rates may
have peaked – so
they are back in
the market.
“Some of that
first-home buying
market has
definitely sprung
back into life. Our
mortgage brokers
have definitely
been commenting
. . . that they are seeing those
Richard
Withy
first-home buyers. Rather than
just having pre-approvals in
place, they are actually coming
through in terms of contracts.
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