Hamilton’s housing demand strong but growth impeded by lack of stock

Robust activity in Hamilton’s housing market was being hampered a severe shortage of new listings and rental stock, an expert broker based in the city has revealed.

Jeremy O’Rourke, managing director of Lodge Real Estate, said the lack of housing stock coupled with strong demand have also presented a great opportunity for sellers to take advantage of. 

“We continue to see multiple offers on properties and filled an entire auction room of 60 people this week with buyers for just one property, followed by eight other busy auctions,” he said. “This extreme buyer competition is keeping prices steady and strong, with first home buyers active and investors looking for high-quality properties to add to their portfolios.”

The latest residential market statistics from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) showed that Hamilton’s median house price slid slightly in July to $636,000, dropping from $656,000 in June. The figure, however, is an almost 8% jump from $590,000 in July last year.

The city also registered 318 house sales in July, an increase from June’s 278 and July 2019’s 287.

O’Rourke said the shortage was also evident in the rental market, with enquiries and applications greatly outnumbering the list of available properties.

“Last week, our rentals team received 798 enquiries but only had 38 properties available to rent,” he said. “The previous week was nearly identical with 800 enquiries and only 40 rental properties available to rent across Hamilton. These numbers show the increasing number of renters and families looking for a place to live.”

O’Rourke added that the current “double distraction” of the COVID-19 pandemic and the upcoming national elections were contributing to sellers’ apprehension to list their properties.

“These events can serve to distract people from their property goals, so the focus is not on making highly-involved decisions like buying and selling a house,” he said.

But O’Rourke cautioned that even if events like the elections have passed, the housing market always tend to pick up where it left off.

“If we have a housing shortage now, we will continue to have a housing shortage post-election,” he said.