Rawdon Christie: Real estate agent on house prices could be on track for a faster recovery

0:00Moor new's on housing ASB's picking house prices to finally hit their 2021 peak. This is a nominal term only, but not until 2029. Prices are still 15% below that high. They're expecting to increase 3.5% next year. Rod and Christy, real estate agent with us this morning. Rod and Good morning. Hello, how you doing, Ryan? Very well. Thank you. Good to have you on the show. What's it like selling real estate at the moment, Rod and? We've had quite a quiet August. There's no doubt about it. Well, it's not a bit in August. We saw a lot of old stock in August. September's been quite quiet, but there's a lot of activity we think around the corner. We're talking to a lot of clients at the moment to be lining up and making that. Do we've jumped before the election? Do we wait until after the election? But look, I appreciate the fact that some prices have been down a little bit. I reckon there's more activity coming than the ASB report shows. I think we could have quite a strong start of 2027.

1:01Judging by the sheer numbers of people we're talking to at the moment. And that's partly because people have just accepted the fact we're in a stable market. Not much is really changing. There's no point really waiting to emerge. Well, move on and bloody good news for first home buyers. It's certainly as a specific, yeah, that end of the market. What about the other end of the market? I mean, what houses are selling? Do you have to be renovated? Do you have to look good? 100%. Well, I mean, the houses which are selling quite easily and for good money are very well presented. So if you're thinking about it, do the work, do the hard work. People are trying to steal bargains out there. Buyers have got a heap of choice. So if you really produce a shiny product where people know they do not have to spend any money once they've purchased, then you like it to get a good sale fairly quickly for a good price. But apart from the first home buyers, which is quite a lot of down sizes, who've now decided,

2:02hey, and there's probably for the prices are not going to move a great deal next year. And so they're thinking, well, there's no point hanging on with all the costs associated with larger homes. So we're going to downsize now and just buy the bullet that side of the market's beginning to move a great deal more. You've got other indications. I mean, building consensus in July, we're up 21% in the year before stats, news, in reported residential construction, the Q2 is up 10% from last year. Those are all good signs that there's a simmering in the market, which I think will see a reasonable start to 2027. But it's going to be stable. There are no massive gains to be made. It is going to be still, you know, I look at it right now for three or four tough years and think, if we're going to get back to 2021 by 2029, which is only now what, you know, in a half a way, well, that's not a bad thing. I'd take that to what we're doing. Gordon Christie, real estate agent. For more from early edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talks It Be from 5 a.m. weekdays,

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