CAMBRIDGE NEWS | 1
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 5, 2024
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SEPTEMBER 5, 2024
Green shoots are showing By Mary Anne Gill and Roy Pilott
Waipā real estate agents are quietly acknowledging what appears to be a lift in the market but are not celebrating yet despite figures out this week showing listings have increased. The average price for the 66 Cambridge listings on realestate.co.nz went above $1 million – still down on the $1.13 million in the same month last year – prompting one company to describe the market as “little green shoots.” David Soar, a director of Cambridge Real Estate, said agents are working “in the trenches”. Peter Tong of More-Re, Cambridge, said his agents had been “flat out” with contracts since the Reserve Bank lowered the official cash rate. “People were waiting,” he said. Average attendance numbers are up at open homes and sales volumes for Cambridge and Leamington are the highest for four years. “With the official cash rate reducing and possible further reductions preChristmas resulting in interest rates reducing, this has encouraged a few parties to not only start looking, but also to make offers,” said Soar. Figures released by the online company show average asking prices in Waipā last month – which takes in Cambridge, Te Awamutu, Kaipaki, Karāpiro, Kihikihi, Leamington,
Ngāhinapōuri , Ōhaupō, Pirongia, Rukuhia, Te Miro and Te Pahu – lifted 10.8 per cent from July to $963,609. But it was Cambridge where the real activity took place followed by Te Awamutu which had 36 online listings averaging $816,000. Listings in the other Waipā settlements – which included four in Kihihiki and three in Leamington were too low to be of any statistical relevance. The News understands there are 330 houses and sections on the market in Cambridge-Leamington and 262 in Te Awamutu-Kihihiki. Soar said Auckland buyer numbers seemed to have dipped but he was expecting that to change once the City of Sails market picks up. “A number of them still want to move south from Auckland but they want to wait until they have a contract in place to sell their Auckland property first or indeed have sold.” Tong said time would tell if the positive vibes continued but his experience showed when deposit rates fell at banks, mum and dad investors head back to the real estate market. “We’re burning the midnight oil and our agents are working hard,” he said. The optimistic lift in real estate comes the same week a review on the boom in retirement village living reveals Waikato has 12 per cent of all villages nationally.
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Cambridge accounts for a big chunk of that. Former Resthome Association president Peter Carr says there are even more coming. The industry has been growing steadily since the mid-1980s and the key to entry effectively involves selling a home to afford the entry price. It is estimated that by the end of 2023 more than 53,000 people were living in 470 retirement villages. The number does not include people living in retirement homes. “Coming down the pipeline are a large number of people now in their 60s who have chosen not to own homes and have built the required equity,” said Carr. “When the current tranche of village dwellers has moved on in, say, 15 years’ time, it will be necessary to turn the villages into a mix of the current system and rental accommodation.” Auckland boasts 2613 units across 106 villages, making it the region with the highest concentration of villages and residents. But with three rest homes under construction, Cambridge is poised to become the country’s “capital” in terms of concentration and as many as one in 20 residents – 1650 people with an average age of 81 - live in the town’s eight villages. There are 47 retirement villages in Waikato. Continued from page 1
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Medals and mishaps
Waipā’s four cyclists have had mixed fortunes at the Paralympic Games in Paris and a pre-games accident ruined the chances for two of them. Anna Taylor won silver on day two in the women’s C4 3000m individual pursuit. The 33-year-old, who was raised in Taupō, boarded at St Peter’s School and now lives in Cambridge, picked up the New Zealand team’s first medal on Saturday. Ngāhinapōuri’s Nicole Murray, 31, claimed a brilliant bronze in the women’s C5 3000m individual pursuit on Monday morning. The 31-year-old Cambridgebased cyclist, who had set a national record at 3:37.599 in qualification, went even faster in the final to record a time of 3:36.206 to claim a comprehensive victory over
Waipā paracyclist Nicole Murray, right, with an exhausted France’s Marie Patouillet (centre) and France’s Heidi Gaugain (left) after the women’s C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the National Velodrome on day four of the Paris Paralympic Games. Photo: Getty Images.
Anna Taylor of Cambridge wins silver in the women’s C4 individual pursuit. Photo: Getty Images.
Italy’s Claudia Cretti. But Ben Westenberg, 19, – brought up in Tauranga and now based in Cambridge – withdrew before competition started after he and Cambridge-born Devon Briggs were involved in an accident at their training camp in Switzerland. Officials monitored Westenberg’s condition under concussion protocols and withdrew him on Friday. Briggs, 20, was a hot favourite to take gold in the C3 3000m individual pursuit on day two – an event he was world record holder in - before the accident which saw him admitted to a Swiss hospital with pelvic injuries. He finished fifth fastest and the following day was seventh fastest in the men’s C1-3 1000m time trial. Neither result was good enough to qualify him for the finals. Taylor, Murray and Briggs were due to compete in road time trials and races after The News went to press.
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