Big drop in lifestyle property sales

The lure of country life may be waning.

Lifestyle property sales in markets around the country have dropped significantly from the peak earlier this year, new figures show.

According to the Real Estate Institute, there were 1809 lifestyle properties sold nationwide in the three months ending August.

But that was 290 fewer than in the three months prior when 2099 were sold, and represented a 13.8 per cent decline.

Sales over the period were also down 24.9 per cent on last year, when 2409 were sold nationwide in the three months ending August 2020.

But it was the regional breakdown in the figures which revealed the extent of the drop-off in sales activity.

Twelve of the 13 regions recorded drops in sales volumes ranging between 20 and 75 per cent from the market peak in March this year.

Bay of Plenty had the smallest decrease at 20 per cent, while Taranaki and Nelson/Marlborough had the biggest at 75 per cent. Only Otago sales remained steady.

No regions recorded an increase in sales over the last three-month period, compared to the three months before and the same period last year.

Real Estate Institute rural spokesman Brian Peacocke said while there was a distinct drop in sales volumes for the three months ending August, there was an 8.3 per cent increase on the same period in 2019 which had 1744 sales.

Also, 9893 lifestyle properties were sold in the year to August, which was a 37.5 per cent increase on the 2699 sold in the year to August 2020.

Peacocke said the national median price for lifestyle properties had climbed to $940,000 in August, from $750,000 in August last year and $700,000 in August 2019.

Twelve regions had median price increases between the three months ending August 2020 and the three months ending August 2021.

Despite the decline in sales from the March peak, the median price in eight regions had either held steady or increased since March.

In the other four regions median prices eased slightly, except in Canterbury where they were down 4.5 per cent.

The total value of the properties sold in the year to August was $10.56 billion.

Peacocke said, irrespective of other influencing factors, sales evidence clearly demonstrated that, to date, purchasers considered lifestyle property to be a dependable and worthwhile investment.

Constraints such as the Covid-19 lockdown had not seriously affected the willingness of people to participate in property activity, Peacocke said.

‘‘The supply demand equation persists, and a shortage of property equals an increase in price.’’

The figures showed that lifestyle property sales in the Auckland region were down 50 per cent on the March peak, but there had been a 6 per cent increase in median price.

No regions recorded an increase in sales over the last threemonth period.