By Beckie Wilson
[email protected]
Wairarapa lifestyle blocks are flying out the door, with the region’s rural setting proving a huge drawcard for out-of-town buyers.
The number of lifestyle blocks sold in the region for the year ending October 2016 was 420, compared with 248 for the year ending October 2015, according to data released recently by Real Estate Institute NZ.
“Since spring it’s just like someone flicked the switch on,” said Benn Milne, lifestyle sales consultant for Property Brokers Greytown.
“It’s gone ballistic.”
The median sale price for a lifestyle block in the year ending October 2016 is $430,000, $57,000 more than the previous year’s total of $373,000.
Mr Milne said a 4-lot subdivision on State Highway 2, that had been on the market “for a while”, had quickly been snapped up over a 30-day period.
Of the four buyers, two were from Auckland, one from Wellington, and one from Wairarapa.
“That seems to be about the right ratio at the moment.
“It’s about 50 to 70 per cent are out-of-towners.”
The lifestyle was a big part of the attraction, as well as the commute.
Mr Milne said that one hour or 1h20 spent travelling to work was “nothing” to Aucklanders.
“They get to live in a nice cute village [in Greytown] … and they are just a hop, skip and a jump into Wellington.”
Value for money was another big factor, with Aucklanders amazed at what they could buy in Wairarapa.
Tim Falloon, Farmlands rural real estate agent, said the month of November had been a record month.
He said people were coming up from Wellington and down from Auckland, as was the case with the residential boom.
The size of lifestyle blocks varied, but most were selling for well in excess of their RVs.
Gary Scott, PGG Wrightson real estate sales consultant, said people were realising they wanted to realise their dreams by buying a lifestyle block in the country.
“There are limited numbers of lifestyle blocks there [in Wellington] and they are a lot cheaper here,” he said.
People looking to buy rurally in Wairarapa could get more for their money here once they had sold their residential homes for a good price elsewhere.
There didn’t seem to be any one area that buyers were keen on, just the region as a whole, he said.
Prices up across the board
The rise in lifestyle property prices mirrors that of urban residential prices.
The average house price in South Wairarapa is the highest in the region at $349,779, up 12.4 per cent from November last year, according to recent QV figures.
The average house price for Carterton is $309, 979 and is up 18.9 per cent since November 2015.
The average house price in Masterton for the month of November is $269,060, up 11.4 per cent from the same time last year.
The sale of all farms, including dairy, sheep, beef, finishing and grazing, has remained at a constant over the past two years.
The number of all farms sold in the region for the year ending in October 2015 was 86, compared with 87 in the year ending in October 2016.
