Murray Young Real Estate. Photo supplied.Frustration is growing among home buyers who find they’re regularly failing to clinch a deal on multiple offer properties.

The red-hot market is seeing records set in terms of the number of offers made and the amount those offers exceed buyer expectation, says veteran sales agent, Murray Young.

Over the past two months 146 homes have changed hands around the Ashburton District and virtually all of those have sold in record time and for higher than anticipated prices, the Property Brokers area manager says.

He’s been selling homes for 35 years and said over those years he’d seen times when the market was running hot, but never to the extent it was at the moment.

“It’s a very, very unusual market.

“When a property comes on the market at the moment there are a number of buyers who’ve been looking and for some the motivation is pretty high and frustration levels are pretty high too,” he said.

Multiple offers were coming in on most properties and in many cases that meant listing price was almost irrelevant, Young said.

“Some of those are significantly over and it’s not uncommon to get offers well in excess of our expectations.”

And that meant for some home buyers an element of frustration was creeping in as they missed out on a number of deals.

There was a flip-side for sellers, however, as there was a risk of underselling their property because they accepted what they perceived as a good deal before the sale date expired, he said.

“We want everyone in the market who is interested to view a property so the vendor can make a good, informed decision, but the question is now becoming, what is a good price in this market?”

The only limiting factor currently was a lack of listings and there was also a real shortage of sections in all areas of Ashburton.

This was likely to continue into next year, as it took time for developers to move projects through the consenting process before development could begin, he said.

Traditionally the Christmas-New Year period sees a slow-down in real estate activity, but Young does not anticipate this will happen this year.

The number of houses sold in the district is up 25 per cent on the same time last year, following the national trend of a 30 per cent rise in sale numbers.

The median selling price in November in the district was $385,000, up 21.7 per cent ($30,000) on November 2019.

By Sue Newman © The Ashburton Guardian - 12 December 2020