Sales Volumes Leveling Out

Data released today by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) shows there were 44 fewer lifestyle property sales (-2.6%) for the three months ended October 2021 than for the three months ended September 2021. Overall, there were 1,645 lifestyle property sales in the three months ended October 2021, compared to 2,788 lifestyle property sales for the three months ended October 2020 (-41.0%), and 1,689 lifestyle property sales for the three months ended September 2021.

9,170 lifestyle properties were sold in the year to October 2021, 1,174 (+14.7%) more than were sold in the year to October 2020. The value of lifestyle properties sold was $10.16 billion for the year to October 2021.

The median price for all lifestyle properties sold in the three months to October 2021 was $951,902 and was $178,552 higher than the three months ended October 2020 (+23.1%). The median price for Bare land Lifestyle properties sold in the three months to October 2021 was $470,000 and was $69,500 higher than the three months ended October 2020 (+17.4%). The median price for Farmlet Lifestyle properties sold in the three months to October 2021 was $1,215,000 and was $280,000 higher than the three months ended October 2020 (+29.9%).

Brian Peacocke, Rural Spokesman, at REINZ says: “Sales figures just released for lifestyle properties for the three-month period ending October 2021 show a major drop of 41% compared to the same period in October 2020, but interestingly enough, are very similar to the results last month and those for October 2021.

“Availability of supply and emerging caution in response to likely increases in interest rates, plus the need for sizeable deposits are all likely factors impacting on the wider marketplace.

“For all that however, the national median price at $967,500 is still the highest seen in the last two years at least,” he concludes.

Relevant points within the regions:

• Upper North Island

Sales figures for Northland are similar to last month but have dropped dramatically from October 2020, and are down on results from 2019; the median price for the region has increased 9% to $655,000.

The Auckland region experienced well spread activity to the north and south of the city, but sales figures were 50% of those in 2020, albeit similar to 2019; however, the median price has increased by 48% in the last 12 months to a record $1,945,000.

• Central Regions

Waikato figures show an improvement over the last three months but a substantial drop of 38% from 2020 results. However, within the well spread activity was a cluster of sales in the Tamahere district south of Hamilton, prices peaked at $3,350,000, which indicates both quality and supply factors. The increase in the median price reflected this activity.

Bay of Plenty/Rotorua results reflect a recovery from the slide of the last two months, lower than 12 months ago but better than in 2019. Western Bay of Plenty dominated the region with the median price being reasonably consistent.

Gisborne/Hawke’s Bay results were consistent, with minor fluctuations in numbers over the last two years; however, the median price has plummeted 30% from the high of last month.

Taranaki numbers have picked up over the last three months, as has the median price, albeit remains well below the peak of June 2021.

• Lower North Island

Manawatu/Wanganui sales have recovered from recent drops to now being similar to the results in 2020 and 2019; the median price of $651,000 reflects considerable volatility over that period.

Wairarapa/Wellington region reflects the same trends as their northern neighbours with reasonable consistency in their median price of $1,055,000.

• Upper South Island

Nelson/Marlborough sales figures are stronger than two months ago but remain well down from the numbers achieved 12 months and two years ago; however, their median price of $1,130,000 is very consistent with the median prices over the last seven months.

Canterbury sales remain solid and have improved over the last five months but remain well below the peak of November 2020. Surprisingly, the median price has dropped 8% from last month.

West Coast figures dropped considerably to the lows experienced in April / May 2020, but the median price of $245,000 was similar to last month.

• Lower South Island

Otago results have been reasonably reliable over the last two years, but quite well down from the peak numbers in November / December 2020. Despite the volumes, the median price at $1,000,000 has bounced back from last month but has not quite matched the August peak of $1,160,000.

Southland sales have remained steady over the last three months but at 15 for the month, are well down from the peak of 35 sales in March of this year; the median price at $610,000 reflects the volatility experienced over the last 12 months.

No regions recorded an increase in sales compared to October 2020, with West Coast (-17 sales) and Otago and Southland (-34 sales each) observing the smallest decreases. Waikato (-266 sales) and Auckland (244 sales) recorded the biggest decreases in sales in the three months to October 2021 compared to the three months to October 2020. Compared to the three months to September 2021, six regions recorded an increase in sales.

Thirteen regions saw the median price of lifestyle blocks increase between the three months ending October 2020 and the three months ending October 2021. The most notable examples were in Southland (+53.3%) and Gisborne/Hawke’s Bay (+46.4%), with the smallest increases being in Canterbury (+4.5%) and Manawatu/Wanganui (+16.4%).

The median number of days to sell for lifestyle properties was 11 days less in the three months to October 2021 than in the three months to October 2020, sitting at 50 days. Taranaki (38) and Gisborne/Hawke’s Bay (42) recorded the shortest number of days to sell in October 2021. West Coast (85) and Nelson/Marlborough/Tasman (66) recorded the longest number of days to sell.

Real Estate Institute of New Zealand

For more real estate information and market trends data, visit www.reinz.co.nz. For New Zealand's most comprehensive range of listings for residential, lifestyle, rural, commercial, investment and rental properties, visit www.realestate.co.nz - REINZ's official property directory website.

Editors Note:

The information provided by REINZ in relation to the lifestyle real estate market covers the most recently completed three-month period; thus, references to October 2021 refer to the period from 1 August 2021 to 31 October 2021.

From April 2021 there has been a change in the methodology for calculating rural statistics. To date, the rural statistics have referred to a Return Period which is the month in which a sale record was submitted to REINZ. Going forward, the rural statistics will refer to an Unconditional Month i.e., the month in which the sale went unconditional. This change in methodology ensures that sales that took place in April, for instance, are recorded against April even if they were submitted to REINZ late. The change also brings Rural statistics calculation into line with the Residential statistics calculation, where the Unconditional Month approach has been used successfully to calculate Residential Statistics for several years now. The Unconditional Month methodology also ensures that the most up-to-date state of the REINZ database is reported at the time the data is released with revision of prior months statistics often occurring to reflect the submission of late data or sale amendments that took place after the prior statistics release.

In addition to the calculation period change there are two additional changes to the data worth noting:

1. 12 Districts have been replaced by 13 Regions. These are consistent with the parts of the residential press release and it has been done to be consistent with regional definitions outside REINZ e.g., Statistics NZ

2. Dairy Support is a new farm category and we now have the ability to separate Lifestyle Blocks into Bareland and Farmlets.

If you have any questions regarding this change in methodology, please email statistics@reinz.co.nz.

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