Want more bang for your buck? Buy in Southland
Southland is the most cost-effective place to buy a house in New Zealand despite average asking prices reaching a 15-year high, a real estate industry spokesperson says.
And lifestyle properties in the province were seeing ‘‘phenomenal’’ increases in price, up 44% year-on-year.
Realestate.co.nz spokesperson Vanessa Williams said Southland had become a ‘‘really viable option’’ for purchasers.
‘‘It’s a really viable option we didn’t see 21⁄2 years ago before the pandemic.
‘‘There are direct flights between Invercargill and Auckland if you need to go away for a day or two, and the move to working from home means you can base yourself there,’’ she said.
Data showed the average price of a property in Southland was $553,997, just over half the national average of $961,512.
Bayleys real estate agent Julie Mitchell, of Gore, said there had been a turnaround in the number of people moving to the province.
‘‘In the last few months we’ve dealt with a lot of North Island couples coming south. Employers have a lot more flexibility and people are seeing the benefits of living in the regions,’’ she said.
‘‘Affordability and lifestyle are big considerations, and we’re still getting a lot of traffic through properties and lots of inquiries.’’
Williams said finding a property to buy could be a problem. The number of houses coming onto the market in the province had dropped, which was driving up prices.
Lifestyle properties had increased from an average of $647,000 to $933,000 yearon-year to June, which was ‘‘phenomenal growth’’ in the market, she said.
Southland property prices had seen growth month-on-month in a national market that was flattening out.
‘‘During June last year, we saw alltime asking-price highs in 15 of 19 regions plus record stock shortages across the country. As a result, there was a lot of urgency in the market with demand significantly exceeding supply.’’
In June this year, average asking prices in most regions stayed relatively flat compared to May, and nationally, average asking prices held stable with fluctuations of no more than around 5% in most regions, she said.