Buyers are dictating the market when it comes to boats and holiday homes, according to real estate agents and marine brokers in Picton.
Sales in both industries have been steady and sellers outnumber buyers, they say.
Ted Church of Picton Marine Brokers said price was governing boat sales. "What people are doing is looking at boats above their budget and hoping to get them for their budget."
The tactic was frustrating for some sellers who were refusing the offers, but some were more open to negotiation, he said.
"It's still a case where you have to pay reasonably good money to buy a reasonably good boat."
Most sales had been in the mid-range of $200,000 rather than the more pricey boats for sale at about half a million, he said.
A cool $500,000 would buy a 17.3-metre (57-foot) cruising launch which needed no work done and the owner had "looked after it like a baby", he said.
People with a lower budget could still buy a "very good" boat which would last for years and was well serviced for about $150,000.
He believed the market had bottomed out and prices would not dip further.
Real Estate Institute of New Zealand figures showed six homes sold in the Marlborough Sounds in the past three months, including a $1.5 million house in Onahau Bay.
Century 21 sales and marketing manager Rebecca Houghton said properties slightly off the beaten track such as near Queen Charlotte Sound which had road and boat access were more popular than more difficult to get to places such as Cape Jackson.
She had been busy appraising properties in the Sounds which were about to come on to the market and there were some which had been awaiting a buyer for some time.
"That's the nature of the beast."
Picton Harcourts agent Faye Doig said interest in properties on the waterside were overtaken by those near a road.
Some houses were taking longer to sell, but the issue was about sellers not putting their homes on the market for the right price, she said.
"Sellers have to get their head around the fact the price of their property has gone down."
Good and well-priced homes were still selling, she said.
- The Marlborough Express
SIMON WONG
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