September is a gateway month for the good people of Christchurch, a gateway to the warmer months and time to start thinking about putting away that puffer jacket you wear on the sidelines at Saturday morning sport. Frosty ground has been replaced with a catalog of colour as the garden city comes to life with new growth and vitality. Spring time in Christchurch traditionally sees a lift in real estate activity. Low interest rates and a shortage of listings has created plenty of spirited bidding across our auction rooms in Canterbury. The median housing price increased from last month to $475,000 as confidence returns to our local housing market. Days on market increased by one day to 40 days, with this number expected to drop as the Spring listing surge arrives. Open home numbers have lifted on the back of the monetary stimulus and seasonal demand means sale successes will follow. In September, there were 513 property sales across Christchurch, lower than August, but I expect this number to increase as marketing campaigns run their full duration through the end of September and into October. As we head into 2020, bank economists are confident of a strong lift in Canterbury house prices after a sluggish period. Tumbling mortgage rates and the cancellation of the capital gains tax are contributing factors to these positive tail winds. Of course property listings are the lifeblood of any real estate business and the volume of listings coming into Harcourts across the city continues to track well. Harcourts remains the preferred real estate company in Christchurch, with close to every second new property to the market being listed by your city’s favourite real estate brand. Hayden Broadbelt - AREINZ South Island Regional Manager In February 2019, the Earthquake Commission (EQC) Act changed.
The Act changes are relevant to all New Zealanders who have a current private insurance policy for their home that includes fire insurance. The changes broaden how EQC can apply the Act by providing homeowners more time to lodge a claim and increasing the cap limit on each claim. The other change will mean EQC will no longer cover home contents damaged as a result of a natural disaster event. They also enable EQC to deliver an improved customer experience by providing more scope and clarification on sharing claim information. They’re part of an overall push to put in place the lessons learned from the Canterbury earthquakes and other events and issues identified by the Ombudsman, Office of the Auditor-General and the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission. They have been working on many ways to improve the claim management processes and customer experience – and these changes to the law will help. Understanding the changes and what they mean for customers is also important. Four changes to the EQC ActThere are four key changes to the law:
What you need to know: Changes to contents cover and the increase in the residential building cap will be phased-in over 12 months from 1 July 2019, affecting policy holders on the anniversary date of their existing policy (which is generally the annual renewal date), or if you take out a new policy. Under the changes, EQC will continue to insure residential buildings and land, although EQC will no longer provide cover for contents. Information sourced from https://www.eqc.govt.nz |
James Twiss
Licensed Business Owner of Harcourts Four Seasons Realty 2017 Ltd Greg Roberts
Licensed Business Owner of Harcourts Four Seasons Realty 2017 Ltd Archives
September 2020
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