A New Zealand Property Report from realestate.co.nz released yesterday said in December, Southland had a 15.3% year-on-year increase in its average asking price to $549,211, its highest December asking price.
The biggest drop was in the Central Otago-Lakes District area, a fall of 17.3% to $1,324,754.
Realestate.co.nz spokeswoman Vanessa Williams said Southland bucked the trend not only on asking prices, but also in new listings as the region had a 7.3% increase.
“That tells me that there still has a quite a lot motivated vendors in the Southland region,” she said.
The region had an increase in total stock of 9.7%, while the majority of the country had double-digit increases.
Houses were not staying on the market as long as in other areas.
“The demand is eating up the supply quicker in Southland than probably it is in the rest of the country,” Ms Williams said.
Bayleys real estate salesman Sean Bellew believed Southland was also playing catch-up with the rest of the country.
An increase in the number of million-dollar house sales in Invercargill in December had raised the median price.
“The population base that we have in Invercargill and surrounds is a fair-sized city, so when you go up the road to Wānaka and Queenstown, your average median house price up there is going to be ranging between $2.4m in Queenstown and $2.9m in Wānaka, and I do understand you do get a view there, but, I mean, we’re not such a terrible place to live, right?
“How much are we behind? So it is a cheap place to live and we’re just playing catch-up with the national aggregate.”
Southland Mayor Rob Scott believed while many were discovering the benefits of living in the region, it was also a case of supply and demand.
“I think there is a shortage of houses _ a big one as I have many employers telling me they are struggling to find a place for their staff to live.
“So, while it is good to have a record on asking prices, it is also a challenge for us.
“It is a kind of bitter-sweet situation, I think.”
Ms Williams said the Central Otago-Lakes District drop was a reflection of it catching up with other regions, which had fallen earlier.
During 2023, Central Otago-Lakes District was the only region that continued to grow while every other region dropped.
It actually got to one of the highest points at $1.6 million, becoming the most expensive place to buy a property in New Zealand, she said.
“I think what’s happening now is, during 2024, we started to see that not only that pricing increase stop, but it also starts to contract like the rest of the market did in 2022, so it’s really catching up with the market.
“I mean, still at $1.3 million, it’s still a phenomenal amount of money …
“It is like the balloon deflating, because it definitely is, it’s more just slowly going down,” Ms Williams said.
