The rural property market continued is downward slide in June, with farm sales 37% lower than a year ago and lifestyle block sales down 20%.
According to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ), 1284 lifestyle blocks were sold in the three months to the end of June, down 20.4% from 1613 in the same period last year.
The median price of lifestyle blocks was also lower, dropping to just under $1 million at $995,000 over the three months to June this year. That's $30,000 less (-2.9%) than the same period of last year.
The median price for bare land lifestyle blocks was down by $65,000 (-13.1%) at $430,000, while the median price of farmlet lifestyle properties was down $125,000 (-10.2%) at $1,100,000.
Sales of farms were also sluggish, with the REINZ recording 217 sales of farms, excluding lifestyle properties, over the three months to June this year, down 37.3%.
Farm prices were also weaker, with the REINZ All Farm Price Index, which adjusts for differences in the mix of properties sold by size, type and location, down 3.3% over the three months to June compared to the three months to May, and down 8.8% compared to a year ago.
REINZ rural spokesperson Shane O'Brien said there had been a noticeable decline in demand for land to convert to exotic forestry.
"The recent drop in the export log price and NZU [NZ units] for carbon is certainly curtailing demand for forestry land, which has been a key driver of the market in the grazing and finishing sectors in recent years," he said.
At the same time, a lower milk price was affecting dairy farm margins, as were higher farm expenses and interest rates, which saw the REINZ Dairy Farm Price Index decline by 3.3% over the three months to the end of June compared to the three months to the end of May, and -5% compared to year earlier.
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