32 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS, MARCH/APRIL <strong>2023</strong> No matter the property We’ve got you covered. Hamilton’s No.1 Real Estate Team LODGE.CO.NZ
After months of declining house prices, the Hamilton property market has “found its floor” according to a local property expert. WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS, MARCH/APRIL <strong>2023</strong> 33 Property market finds its floor; Hamilton house prices stabilising Thanks to an equalising market, house prices are reaching a stable footing due to a combination of appropriate asking prices and buyers acting quickly, Lodge Real Estate Managing Director Jeremy O’Rourke says. “Sales figures are showing us that a sense of urgency has picked up in the market, and we’re no longer seeing the ‘wait and see’ attitude among buyers that was common in the past few months, where buyers were hesitant to put in an offer just in case house prices fell further.” “However we’re not seeing that steep price fall like we did last year when housing volume was declining at the same time. Sales in Hamilton are currently sitting at a median of $760,000 to $780,000, with REINZ figures nationally show the median house price at $762,000. The lesson for buyers here is if you see value in a property, take the opportunity to buy, otherwise someone else will also see the value and act quicker than you. Jeremy says previous firsthome buyers are releasing and buying up into their next property, which is increasing the supply of homes suitable for the first home market, with first-home buyers now accounting for 30% of the market. Lodge Real Estate Managing Director Jeremy O’Rourke “As those previous firsthome buyers are selling their homes and moving up a price bracket, we’re now seeing a rise in houses being sold in the $1 million to $1.5 million range. This is particularly evident in the northeast suburbs of Hamilton.” He says vendors selling within the $1-$1.5M price range are receiving multiple offers, with sales in this bracket accounting for around 16% of current market sales. Jeremy is also predicting a more active <strong>April</strong> than usual as buyers keep tabs on the market in order to jump when the right opportunity presents. “Traditionally <strong>April</strong> is a slower month with public holidays and school holidays, with buyers taking a bit of a rest. But with the interest we’ve been fielding lately it’s possible <strong>April</strong> could remain quite busy. “<strong>March</strong> is on track to achieve just over 200 house sales across Hamilton, which is a volume level the market hasn’t seen since November 2022. Raglan Food Co tops Dairy Free awards The fourth annual Dairy Free Awards, which highlight and showcase the best of New Zealand’s available plant-based dairy alternatives were recently announced. Run by The Vegan Society NZ, the awards cover six categories of fully plantbased products: ice cream, milk, cream, desserts, yoghurt and butter. <strong>Waikato</strong> dairy free producer Raglan Food Co were top favourites in the yoghurt category, winning with their Vanilla Bean, while their Natural Greek-Style came second. Raglan Food Co head of marketing Sarah Phillipps says their Vanilla Bean and Natural Greek-Style are top performers and incredibly popular. “It’s always super to get this feedback and recognition. “We feel really strongly that our yoghurts are as good for the planet as they are for people’s tastebuds. Raglan Food Co has been topping the yoghurt category for the Dairy Free awards since its inception in 2020. The company started life there in 2014 as Raglan Coconut Yoghurt whipping up their signature dairy free yoghurt at the Raglan Old We want to inspire more people to incorporate plant-based foods into their diets and we feel we can do that if our products are deliciously tasty and made from simple ingredients. School Arts Centres’ certified community kitchen. Founders Seb Walter and Tesh Randall stumbled upon what they thought was the tastiest vegan coconut yoghurt after experimenting in their home kitchen. Since that time, they moved to purpose-built premises at Nau Mai and morphed into Raglan Food Co. They ventured into new territory with an array of flavoured coconut yoghurts, and in 2021 they launched kefir smoothies and Vegan Mayo and Vegan Aioli. The kefir smoothies proved popular, with the natural variety taking out the ‘Drink Champion Award’ in the 2021 Outstanding Food Producer Awards, and the other flavours winning silver and gold medals. Producing a wider range of products, Raglan Food Co employs 30 staff from around Whāingaroa and sell their products across New Zealand and overseas. These days Kiwi consumers are acutely aware of the environmental consequences of their choices, with many Dairy Free Awards’ product nominees based on oats, though coconut was also very popular. The top ice creams were both on a stick, proving that Kiwis love to eat on the go, the Magnum Almond Dairy Free was a clear winner, with the Kapiti Chocolate Boysenberry a close run second. “There were 37 different ice cream flavours nominated! It’s wonderful to see the increasing number of dairy-free products out there, proving the market is booming and the public’s appetite for plant-based is growing. Our awards set a high bar for companies to step up to, providing quality Kiwi products available to all.” Vegan Society spokesperson Claire Insley says. “The winners are delighted to be shown they are the nation’s favourite! We encourage more companies to offer great NZ produced plantbased foods. As a nation we need to be more self-sufficient and there is no reason we cannot grow all our own plants for these fabulous products.” Meanwhile for the plant milks, Boring Oat again produced a winner with their deliciously creamy Barista Oat and runner up was their Boring Oat Milk! Not boring at all for this Kiwi company. Another year of winning under the belt for Takapuna company Vutter, who won the Butter category, with Olivani original coming a close runner up. New to the Dairy Free Awards were the Dessert and Cream categories. Little Island came out top with their delicious Cashew Cream, European favourite, Alpro came in second with their Soy Cream Single. The time has come for vegan desserts to receive their own category, to mark the number of delicious and dairy-free alternatives there are in all spheres of food produce. Damn Good Food Co were the winners with their delicious Salted Caramel, a damn fine dessert, if ever there was one! Sara Lee brand Joy were the runners up with their amazing Key Lime Pie Kiwis overwhelmingly support locally produced foods, so it’s no surprise most of the award winners were well loved Kiwi brands. With the recent devastating storms hitting the North Island and more to come, we must act now to mitigate our carbon emissions. The Vegan Society offers resources for those wishing to take up plant-based eating to help the environment, improve their health and show compassion for the animals. For the full results check out vegansociety.org.nz/ nz-dairy-free-awards/
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