Lifestyle and viticulture land up

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There was good news for lifestyle block owners but predictably bad news for dairy farmers in the latest Real Estate Institute of New Zealand rural sales figures.

The figures released on Tuesday show there was a 46.7 per cent increase in the number of sales of lifestyle properties across all regions in the three months to August 2015 compared to August 2014.

The national median price for lifestyle blocks also increased by $34,490  or 6.8 per cent from $510,510 for the three months to August 2014 to $545,000 for the three months to August 2015.

REINZ rural spokesman Brian Peacock says there was steady activity in lifestyle properties across the lower North Island and into the Nelson and Marlborough although it was “less aggressive than in the northern areas”.

Brian says there has also been “confident activity” in the viticulture industry in the Nelson and Marlborough, particularly around the Wairau Plains where keen support from private and corporate purchasers has pushed prices back to the peak levels of five years ago. He says growers are securing land for planting to ensure the supply of grapes in three to five years time and beyond.

However, dairy farms across the country had a bad three months with median sales price per hectare for dairy farms falling to $26,906 compared to $35,304 for the three months ended July 2015  and $43,125 for the three months ended August 2014.