Report identifies regions with the highest increase in sales
The lifestyle market in New Zealand has started to cool down, with 179 fewer lifestyle property sales for the three months ended July 2021 than for the three months ended June 2021, according to the latest Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) data.
The data revealed 2,089 lifestyle property sales across New Zealand in the three months ended July 2021. This compared to 1,955 lifestyle property sales for the three months ended July 2020 (+6.9%) and 2,268 lifestyle property sales for the three months ended June 2021.
In the year to July 2021, REINZ found 10,235 lifestyle properties sold across the country – 3,367 (+49.0%) more than were sold in the year to July 2020. The value of lifestyle properties sold was $10.73 billion for the year to July 2021.
“While sales results for the three-month period ending July 2021 reflected an easing from the previous sale period ending June 2021, the numbers were still comfortably ahead of the equivalent periods ending July 2019 and July 2020,” said REINZ rural spokesman Brian Peacocke.
“Reports reflect a continuation of strong demand, and while sales volumes remain solid, the increasing median price reflects a constrained supply.”
Read more: What’s happening to New Zealand’s lifestyle property market?
The median price for lifestyle properties sold in New Zealand in the three months to July 2021 was $925,000 – $185,000 higher than the three months ended July 2020 (+25.0%), according to REINZ.
The median price for Bare Land Lifestyle properties sold in the three months to July 2021 was $475,000 – $118,478 higher than the three months ended July 2020 (+33.2%). Meanwhile, the median price for Farmlet Lifestyle properties sold in the same period was $1,100,000, which was $240,000 higher compared to the three months ended July 2020 (+27.9%).
REINZ’s latest data also showed that 10 regions saw an increase in sales last month compared to July 2020, with Otago (+40 sales) and Waikato (+35 sales) seeing the most significant increases. By contrast, Manawatu-Wanganui (-26 sales) and Gisborne/Hawkes Bay (-11 sales) recorded the most dramatic decrease in sales in the three months to July 2021 compared to the three months to July 2020. Compared to the three months to June 2021, only one region recorded an increase in sales.
Eleven regions saw the median price of lifestyle blocks increase between the three months ending July 2020 and the three months ending July 2021 – with the most notable examples found in Gisborne/Hawkes Bay (+67.9%) and Waikato (+37.8%), and the biggest decreases found in West Coast (-12.9%) and Southland (0.2%).
