Welcome to Key Real Estate's first monthly Property Report for 2021! We hope you have had a great start to the year! We look forward to serving everyone in the Rotorua property market over the coming months and course of the year.

The most noteworthy headline is New Zealand's median house price rising 19.3% annually, to $749,000. On closer inspection, this is a modest 0.5% increase since last month. What is noticeable is the median days to sell, falling to 27 - 4 days less than the same month last year. This is the fastest pace properties are selling in 17 years. Volumes were also up 36.6% year on year. All these numbers point to a hot property market. How long will the trend upward last?

Rotorua's median house price was $541,000 in November. Surprisingly, this was a 4.6% decline from November. However, prices were still up 18.3% year-on-year. The wider Bay of Plenty Region saw a 4.0% monthly decline and a 13.4% year-on-year increase. The volume of houses sold in Rotorua was up a considerable 33.0% annually and a solid 15.2% for Bay of Plenty.

Bindi Norwell, REINZ CEO noted, "Currently we have half the inventory levels we had back in December 2018. Therefore, there just isn't enough choice for people looking to purchase which has meant that there is significant pressure being placed on house prices in most parts of the country. When you add into the equation the fact that there are record low interest rates, it means that people are more willing to compete to secure the property they want."

Neville Falconer, REINZ Regional Director added, "Increased sales volumes, combined with a -0.6% decrease in new listings for the region in December has resulted in a -45.7% decrease in inventory to 858, the lowest level of inventory since records began. Demand has remained strong, and supply has become tighter, increasing competition for each property. Days to sell reached a record low in December at 27 days, down from 37 days at the same time last year."

It will be interesting to see what is in store for Rotorua's real estate trends in 2021. If you are looking for Rotorua property, remember to check out our current listings!