REINZ Reports Lifestyle Property Market Shows Resilience With Increased Sales & Stable Prices Lifestyle Property Sales

The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) has released its latest data on the lifestyle property market, revealing encouraging trends in sales and pricing for the three months ending May 2024.

According to REINZ, 1,449 lifestyle property sales occurred in the three months ending May 2024, marking a modest increase of 1.1% compared to the three months to April 2024. This reflects a broader positive trend, with a 4.5% rise compared to the three months ending May 2023, when 1,386 properties were sold. Over the past year, 5,669 lifestyle properties changed hands, demonstrating robust market activity despite a slight decrease of 3.5% from the previous year.

The total value of lifestyle properties sold for the year to May 2024 amounted to $6.30 billion, underlining the significant economic impact of the sector.

Median prices remained stable, with the median price for all lifestyle properties sold in the three months to May 2024 holding steady at $1,000,000, unchanged from the same period in 2023. Bareland lifestyle properties saw a decrease in median price to $418,000 (-2.3%), while Farmlet lifestyle properties experienced a marginal decrease to $1,100,000 (-0.9%).

"Despite some regional variations, the overall increase in sales and the stable median prices highlight the continued demand for lifestyle properties in New Zealand. The market's performance over the past year underscores its significance in the country's lifestyle sector, with substantial economic impact evident in the total value of properties sold," said REINZ Spokesperson Shane O’Brien.

"While we observe regional variations in sales and price movements, the overall market shows stability with incremental growth in sales and measured price adjustments."

Regional variations in sales and prices were notable, with Auckland and Wellington leading in sales increases compared to May 2023. However, Waikato and Manawatu Whanganui saw declines. Median prices showed diverse movements, with West

Coast and Bay of Plenty recording notable increases, while Gisborne/Hawkes Bay and Wellington noted decreases, painting a vivid picture of the market's regional dynamics.

Five regions recorded increased sales compared to the three months to April 2024. The median number of days it took to sell a lifestyle property increased by 11 in the three months to May 2023 to 76 days in the three months to May 2024. Waikato reported the shortest selling period at 65 days, whereas Southland recorded the longest at 108 days.

Note:

The information provided by REINZ in relation to the lifestyle real estate market covers the most recently completed three-month period; thus, references to May 2024 refer to the period from 1 March 2024 to 31 May 2024.

From April 2021 there has been a change in the methodology for calculating rural statistics. To date, the rural statistics have referred to a Return Period which is the month in which a sale record was submitted to REINZ. Going forward, the rural statistics will refer to an Unconditional Month i.e., the month in which the sale went unconditional. This change in methodology ensures that sales that took place in April, for instance, are recorded against April even if they were submitted to REINZ late. The change also brings Rural statistics calculation into line with the Residential statistics calculation, where the Unconditional Month approach has been used successfully to calculate Residential Statistics for several years now. The Unconditional Month methodology also ensures that the most up-to-date state of the REINZ database is reported at the time the data is released with revision of prior months statistics often occurring to reflect the submission of late data or sale amendments that took place after the prior statistics release.

In addition to the calculation period change there are two additional changes to the data worth noting:

1. 12 Districts have been replaced by 13 Regions. These are consistent with the parts of the residential press release and it has been done to be consistent with regional definitions outside REINZ e.g., Statistics NZ

2. Dairy Support is a new farm category and we now have the ability to separate Lifestyle Blocks into Bareland and Farmlets.

If you have any questions regarding this change in methodology, please email statistics@reinz.co.nz.

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