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Timaru home values rise 120% in 6 years |
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25 May 2006
By RHONDA MARKBY - Timaru Herald
Timaru real estate is proving a good investment with the average price paid for a home having risen almost 120 per cent in the last six years.
The local market is providing better returns than residential real estate in many other parts of the country.
The average price paid for a house in Timaru last month was just under $202,800, yet another record high for the town.
It was a figure which has pushed the price of the average home up 119 per cent since April 2000. During that same period the average price throughout the country rose only 71 per cent – from $213,250 to $365,000.
Real Estate Institute local president Warwick Jones described the increase as phenomenal.
"I've lived here for the last 30 years, and in the last three years in Timaru I have never seen such an amazing increase in values. It's right across the board, from the very cheapies to the very primo, top, top, stuff.
"It just goes to prove Timaru has been behind the eightball for a number of years. We have had a lot of catching up to do and we have caught up very rapidly in a very short period of time."
He suggests anyone who has invested in the property market in recent years would have to be happy with the result.
"You would have to be. There would be nothing else (no other type of investment) that would even come remotely close to that type of growth."
While only 53 homes were sold in Timaru in April, Mr Jones doesn't believe that's an indication of a softening market.
He noted the average time a house was for sale was 27 days, only three days longer than the previous month. It was also a month in which public holidays meant there was only one full working week.
"We're going into winter and it happens every year (sales fall off). Let's face it, houses don't look their best at this time of the year," Mr Jones said.
Nationally residential sales dropped by more than 2500 from 10,094 in March to 7576 in April. That figure was well down on the 8875 sales recorded in April 2005.
The national median price defied the more gloomy expectations, increasing to a record $305,000 in April.
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