Thursday, Aug 21, 2014
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THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MID CANTERBURY
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Lion cubs Lachlan Storey and Maddison Caffell, both 6, are a picture of cuteness as they prepare to take to the stage today for Tinwald School’s junior school production called Where’s My Daddy. FULL STORY P7
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Buyers line up to buy top homes
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BY SUE NEWMAN
SUE.N@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
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Ashburton’s real estate market is running red hot with buyers lining up to chase properties with price tags of $700,000 and climbing. A Methven home recently sold for $1.275 million and while homes of that quality were not the market’s bread and butter, the district was building up a stock of high-priced, high-quality houses, Ray White franchisee Jill Quaid said. “Mid Canterbury is doing very, very well at the higher end of the market now. People are feeling so confident and they’re happy to invest in higher end properties; it’s confidence in Mid Canterbury that’s pushing this,” she said. She’s aware of another property that is under contract for more than
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$1 million and said that indicates there are ready buyers at the top end of the market for the right properties. Most buyers of higher-priced homes were local, some coming off farms but others were selling and moving up. “They’re all people who are seriously considering whether to invest in an area and they’re choosing to invest in Mid Canterbury. Wherever they’ve come from, the money all filters down.” There was still an inflow of out-oftowners choosing to relocate into the district too and they were strong players in the $600,000-plus market, she said. “We still represent good buying and good investment.” In the first six months of this year, her company sold more than a dozen properties priced above $599,000. Most properties in the higher price
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range were also selling well above valuation and it was not uncommon for deals to be closed at $100,000 above current value, again indicating confidence in the Mid Canterbury market, she said. There was also significant investment in new builds on higher priced sections and that meant the pool of properties that would later come to the market priced at more than $1 million was steadily growing, she said. “It’s good to see people are prepared to commit more than $1 million and that the more expensive sections are finding ready buyers.” The rush to invest in top-line properties was also spilling over into the spec market where lower-priced homes appeared to be slower to sell than those with a higher price tag, Mrs Quaid said.
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