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It looks like sales are starting to pick up in Warkworth Ridge, according to local real estate agents.
The upswing should be helped further by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s (RBNZ) decision to cut the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 50 basis points to 3.75% on February 19.
Following the OCR drop, it didn’t take long for the major banks to respond by lowering their mortgage rates, in particular the flexible and floating home loan rates, which in the past has brought more buyers into the housing market.
CoreLogic’s chief property economist Kelvin Davidson says there still seems room for another 0.5% cut to the OCR before a ‘final’ 0.25% fall thereafter.
“For the property market and mortgage borrowers, then, the key message is that interest rates seemingly have further to fall yet, although the drops to come could be a bit slower or smaller than those seen to date – especially since banks were already cutting in advance of today’s decision anyway,” he says.
“It’s also going to be really interesting to see whether the recent stampede towards borrowers taking floating and short-term fixed rates goes into reverse at some stage in 2025, with the focus potentially shifting back towards longer-term fixed rates again.”
Harcourts North Rodney salesperson Amy Wagstaff says since interest rates have come down, as well as people coming back from holiday, it feels like the whole market in Warkworth has lifted.
“Overall, houses have now started selling in the ridge – houses that are finished, house and land packages, and also sections. Recently there’s been two unconditional sales and one conditional sale in the ridge so far that I know of,” Wagstaff says.
“We’re getting constant inquiries every week from buyers looking. People just feel a little bit more confident to make decisions now.
“We’re selling more to the mums and pops, and the people who want to build their own homes and already have a builder. So we’re seeing more families, retirees and people wanting to build who have an idea of what they want.”
Wagstaff says they’ve only been marketing Warkworth Ridge properties since about October last year.
“By then the interest rates had already started coming down, so we’ve been getting a good amount of traffic from buyers inquiring. We open it every weekend and we’re getting a good, steady flow of buyers coming through.”
Key2 salesperson Dean Nieper says Warkworth Ridge is starting to get more traction.
“We’ve been involved in Warkworth Ridge as a project from its inception – we helped Templeton Group (the company behind the development) get their presales in the covid times,” he says.
“I do Saturday and Sunday open days there, and I’m getting visitors every weekend. It’s going to grow, which is good – there was a house sold there yesterday.
“What will ultimately happen from where we are now is that people will hang their undies on washing lines and wheelie bins will be rolled down drives.
“When we see subdivisions they take time and then they ramp up to the part where houses are getting finished and people are going, oh okay this is the neighbourhood. It’s not just a link road, it’s the neighbourhood.”
