West Coast offers NZ’s cheapest lifestyle blocks

Sunday, 3 November 2024

View over Lake Brunner. New Zealand’s cheapest lifestyle properties can be found on the West Coast of the South Island. (File photo)

Fancy a move to the country but worried about the cost? Data shows you don’t actually have to break the bank to land yourself a lifestyle block, but you might need to think outside the usual box.

Here are the numbers you need to know if you’re thinking about trading the rat race for a slower pace:

1400

According to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, lifestyle block sales and prices are both on the rise.

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In the three months to September, 1400 lifestyle properties were sold, up 11.8% on the same period in 2023, while the median price increased by $35,000 to $945,000.

$1,139,825

Auckland and Waikato were the most expensive places to buy a lifestyle property, with median prices of $1,139,825 and $1,007,145 respectively.

They were followed by Taranaki ($865,240), Bay of Plenty ($862070). Tasman was the only South Island region to rank in the top five most expensive spots for lifestyle blocks with a median price of $634,420.

$140,660

But you don’t have to splash that kind of cash to put down rural roots, the REINZ data shows.

Lifestyle properties on the South Island’s West Coast had a median price of just $140,660 over the same period.

While that was a 74.3% increase on 2023 prices, the West Coast was still the cheapest region to buy either bare land or a farmlet.

$258,210

Canterbury and Otago were the next most affordable regions for would-be lifestylers, with median prices of $258,210 and $273,290 respectively.

REINZ rural spokesperson Shane O’Brien said recent reductions to interest rates and signs of more on the way were boosting buyer confidence and the positive trend was expected to continue right up until Christmas.

Lifestyle block sales and prices are both on the rise, but buyers are still cautious, data shows. (File photo)

“Buyers have access to a good selection of listings across all markets, and the upward trend in median sale prices for both farmlets and bare land is encouraging.”

95

That optimism was tempered by an increase in the average days lifestyle properties spent on the market, which suggested buyers were still being cautious, O’Brien said.

The median time to sell was 95 days in the three months to September, 18 days more than the same period last year. Lifestyle properties moved fastest on the West Coast (65 days) and were slowest to sell in Auckland (114 days).