The median price of lifestyle blocks hit an all time high in the three months to May as the number of sales hit their highest level since 2007.
The Real Estate Institute of NZ recorded 2063 sales of lifestyle blocks in the three months to May, compared to 1940 in the three months to April, and up a substantial 17.4% compared to the three months to May last year.
It was also the highest number of lifestyle blocks sold in any three month period since May 2007.
On a month by month basis, the trend for the number of lifestyle blocks selling in a single month has been steadily rising since January 2011 when just 243 were sold.
Last month 686 lifestyle properties were sold, the most in single month since March 2007 when 818 were sold (see chart below).
According to the REINZ the median price of lifestyle properties is also on the up, hitting a new all time high off $560,000 the three months to May compared to $552,500 in the three months April, and $526,500 in the three months to May last year.
However there were significant regional variations, with the medians in May ranging from $985,000 in Auckland to $125,000 on the West Coast.
The price of lifestyle blocks in Auckland increased by $82,500 (9.1%) in the 12 months to May.
Nationally, the median number of days it took to sell a lifestyle property dropped from 74 in the three months to April to 66 in the three months to May, while in Auckland it was just 44 days.
"From a national perspective, the overall level of activity signals a healthy climate in the lifestyle sector," REINZ rural spokesman Brian Peacocke said.
However things were a bit more subdued in the dairy sector, with the REINZ Dairy Farm Price Index (which adjusts for differences in farm size and location) falling 4.3% in the three months to May.
However the Index was still up 11.1% in May compared to a year earlier.
There were 87 dairy farm sales in the three months to May at a median price of $35,281 per hectare, compared to 97 sales in the three months to April at a median price of $38,802 per hectare.
Overall, there were 502 farm sales of all types (excluding lifestyle blocks) in the three months to May compared to 564 in the same period last year.
You can read the REINZ's full Rural Market Report for May by clicking on this link:.
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