Coromandel property market sizzles over winter months

Property in Coromandel has gone against the norm as the local council reports unseasonably high LIM requests between July and September.

Home buyers are setting their sights on Coromandel real estate, as LIM (Land Information Memorandum) requests hit record levels, according to the Thames Coromandel District Council.

"We're now getting feedback from our customers and real estate agents that things are at a tipping point and very little stock remains on the market. This seems to be especially true for Thames and Whitianga, but in saying that, we're getting LIM requests through from all areas of the Coromandel at record levels,” says Christine Harrison of the Council’s LIMS department, noting commercial LIM requests were also higher than usual between July - September.

"Real estate agents are telling us they are desperately short of stock, everything has sold and there's nothing new to put up in the windows," says Harrison.

"We also understand agents now have waiting lists for properties coming onto the market and it could mean a quiet sum-mer because there's nothing left to sell.

The median house price in Thames-Coromandel was $388,000, up 3% in June 2015 compared with a year earlier and total houses sold (780) in the same time frame compares well with the ten year average of 641.

Buyers are being drawn to those coastal areas where many prices are well below their previ-ous peak and Corelogic’s senior research analyst Nick Goodall says his firm was starting to see more requests for valuations in such areas as Thames-Coromandel, Tauranga, Rotorua and Taupo.

In July the Council had 140 LIM requests, 132 for August and 150 for September, usually figures only seen during the summer peak says Harrison, and a third of requests are urgent with 2 day turnaround times. 

"I've been working in our LIMs department since 2000 and these are the highest figures we've done in the winter months since I've been with Council,” Harrison says, pointing out the potential flow-on effect from the volume of LIM requests.

"If people are coming in buying houses, generally we tend to see an increase in building con-sents as they move in and renovate.”