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One home salesman said the Lower Hutt real estate market was ridiculous after 400 hopeful buyers showed up to inspect his 1950s log home.
An hour before last month’s first open house at the Witako St property, Rory Sheehan says people were already staying outside.
“At 4 o’clock, people would stop and look down the driveway. A couple of guys came up and started talking to me about the house; I had to tell them it hadn’t started. “
His wife Joella said the volume of shoppers caused a traffic jam outside their home with a cheeky gambler trying to park in the driveway.
Matthew Tso / Things
Joella, Rory and Brooklyn Sheehan’s 3 Witako St home in Epuni, Lower Hutt, was visited by 400 potential buyers last month.
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Advertisement agent Anne Harris said she has never seen so many people come to the tours: more than 400 people attended the three open houses with about 60 groups each day.
“Pre-covid if it could have been from six to 12 groups, and after having been up to 40 [groups]. It’s crazy. “
Having been looking for a new home on and off for the past 18 months, Rory said she knew there was a shortage of stock, but she didn’t expect there to be as much interest in her 200-square-meter, four-bedroom home.
Matthew Tso / Things
A 1950s weather board house in Lower Hutt drew 400 potential buyers to viewings last month. At the first open house, punters looking for parking lots caused a traffic jam outside the house.
“It has been worked on. We’ve done some renovations and everything is pretty neat, but it’s definitely not a fancy house. It’s just ridiculous, ”he said.
The 511-square-foot property has an RV of $ 870,000. Rory said 18 offers were made and that the house eventually sold for $ 1.315 million.
The Lower Hutt real estate market has exploded in recent years with the latest figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand showing that median prices rose from $ 565,000 in October 2019 to a record $ 761,000 in the same month this month. year.
Until recently, Lower Hutt has been popular with refugees living in housing outside Wellington. Once seen as a cheaper alternative to the capital, prices have now reached the point where Quotable Value area manager Paul McCorry speculated this week whether the city could have run its course as an affordable market.
Harris said that of the 32 property sales his team made last month, 16 exceeded $ 1 million.
In October, realtors claimed that housing stocks in Lower Hutt were at a record low with just 154 properties listed on TradeMe earlier in the month. The website had 166 homes for sale in the city on Friday.
