Canterbury investment properties hard to move

Only a third of a portfolio of 20 investment properties put up for sale in Christchurch have been sold, reflecting the difficult market conditions.

Monday, July 19th 2010, 12:00AM

by The Landlord

The portfolio of 20 suburban homes, inner city apartments and townhouses, including individual two, three and four-bedroom properties was put on the market by Bayleys last month with most vendors being property investors looking to sell for a variety of reasons including high debt levels and tax changes introduced in the Budget.

Six sold under the hammer at auction and one other is currently under contract, Bayleys Canterbury residential manager Phil Hayes says.

He says the majority of interest came from other investors, as opposed to owner occupiers or first home buyers.

"A couple of investors bid on several of the properties; there was broad interest."

He says investor buyers are extremely price-driven, especially in the current market and despite many offers on properties, potential buyers were driving a hard bargain.

Four properties have been taken off the market as vendors said the offers received were below and in some cases were less than the vendors originally paid for their properties, Hayes says.

"Values are readjusting and some people couldn't sell due to negative equity [needing to be realised in the sale]."

Around half the original portfolio is still on the market, the likes of the inner city apartments having attracted practically no interest from buyers, although Hayes says this is a typical outcome from the current market.

He says the Canterbury market in general has been hard going. The main trend to emerge is the fact values and vendor expectations are slowly readjusting.

"It's hard work and there's lots of gap between vendors and purchasers."

But he says people are finally starting to realise that the current state of the market will be reality for a while to come.

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