Browsing behaviour on property websites has also changed
The COVID-19 lockdown in New Zealand has resulted in a surge in demand for coastal properties, with the latest data showing that Kiwis are flocking towards coastal areas following the lockdown in August.
According to Stuff, property website realestate.co.nz reported that “beach” and “waterfront” were the two keywords that received the highest number of searches when New Zealand went into lockdown last month. These two keywords were followed by “pool,” “garage,” “view,” and “villa.”
This year, waterfront properties in Auckland have also taken the spotlight among the most expensive house sales in the country. Homes.co.nz estimated that the median value of properties in Mt Maunganui, a popular beachside location, had already reached over $2.3 million.
Read more: Real estate agents share insights on latest buyer activity
Realestate.co.nz’s analytics found that the amount of time visitors have been spending on the site has soared, with the pages browsed per second up by 6.1% in the month following the move to alert level 4. The number of pages browsed per session increased by 5.7%.
Realestate.co.nz spokesperson Vanessa Williams said the increase in views was similar to what was seen during last year’s lockdown. However, she claimed that people’s browsing behaviour on the property website has changed this time.
“It was as if we saw a shift in browsing behaviour overnight. Although visits to our site cooled, it wasn’t nearly the drop we saw in April 2020. And those that were browsing seemed to be seriously searching, Williams said, as reported by Stuff. “The story hasn’t changed – market demand is strong.”
