Vendors facing up to home truths

In and around Wellsford, it’s a buyers’ market and vendors wanting to sell are having to face up to reality, according to Mike Pero owner Jon Standbrook.

He says there are two categories that are currently predominant – lifestyle properties and good value homes at the cheaper end of the market – but only one of them is really moving.

“Since Easter, lifestyle has been very slow, but the market in $500,000 to $600,000 homes, that’s where we’re attracting interest,” he says.

“The market is recognising that price is critical and vendors I’m dealing with in that market are in general listening to advice and, as a result, we’re getting results.

“But the lifestyle market is generally slow. There’s always a price where someone would be interested – we’re getting that little, odd flash of interest, but obviously fewer and further between than a year ago.”

However, that means there are some great properties at good prices for anyone buying, Standbrook adds.

“If someone’s after a property, there are some great properties there in the Wellsford district, particularly around lifestyle.”

He says normally a downturn in the market corrects itself relatively quickly, but this time is tougher.

“Normally, when you get a change, it unsettles the market and takes two or three months to get digested and then everyone moves on, and life returns to normal,” he says.

“But this time we have been hit by so much, the timeframe it’s taking to digest and normalise is extreme, because there have been extreme events. It’s just human nature.”

He urges sellers not to focus on price itself, but the differential between what they’re selling and buying at.

“What people have to understand is that it’s very important to know where you sit in the market, remembering that you’re buying and selling in the same market,” he says. “You may have to sell a little bit cheaper than you want, but you’re buying a lot cheaper than you thought – it’s the differential between the price you’re selling and buying at, not the actual price.”

And he’s optimistic that things will start to move again early next year.

“Come the end of January, when we’re entering the traditional February-March-April period when the property market picks up, we’ll start to get back to some normality,” Standbrook predicts.

“People can be put down for so long and then that Kiwi character comes out and says let’s get on with life and just do it.”

And in the meantime?

“There are bargains to be had and negotiations to be had,” he says.