Karen’s new life in Chile
Valetta fair attracts crowds
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ASHBURTON
www.guardianonline.co.nz
Monday, Dec 16, 2013
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THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF MID CANTERBURY
Christmas in the Park party
More than 4000 people with picnic hampers, rugs and chairs packed into the Ashburton Domain oval yesterday for a multicultural Christmas in the Park extravaganza.
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Ashburton houses hot property BY SUE NEWMAN
SUE.N@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
Houses in Ashburton are selling at a faster rate than almost anywhere else in New Zealand. During November it took an average of just 18 days to sell a house in the Ashburton District, with that record turnaround between listing and selling beaten by only Rangiora and western Wellington on 17.
A total of 36 houses were sold during the month, well below the number sold in November last year, 52 and October, 49. The median selling price, however, shot up to $293,500. And while the quick turnaround of houses is great news for vendors, it’s creating some significant pressure points in the market, says Ray White manager Jill Quaid.
“We’re all doing our best to sell before Christmas, but the other side of that is it means we’ll all be going into the new year with a shortage of listings.” Well-prepared vendors who have obtained a LIM report before listing their house were playing a significant part in the short selling time, Mrs Quaid said. Sellers can save themselves 15
working days on the sale of a home by obtaining a LIM before listing. The flip side of the hot market was that buyers were under pressure to make decisions on a property because there were often multiple buyers chasing one home, she said. With homes now selling in record time, there was a shortage of listings across the board,
but particularly in the $250,000$350,000 price bracket, Mrs Quaid said. The Government’s new loan to value ratio limits requiring banks to have no more than 10 per cent of their lending to buyers with less than 20 per cent deposit was starting to flow through with a noticeable absence of first home buyers at open homes, she said.
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