Prices of lifestyle blocks have hit a record high in Auckland but the number of sales around the country is down

Prices of lifestyle blocks have set a new record in Auckland, although the number of lifestyle properties sold around the country is down, according to the Real Estate Institute of NZ.

REINZ agents sold 1572 lifestyle properties in the three months to June, compared with 1763 in the three months to June last year, a drop of 10.8%.

However on an annual basis, sales are still ahead of the previous year, with 6510 lifestyle property sales in the 12 months to June, up 4.8%  compared with the 12 months to June 2013.

The national median price for sales during the three months to June was $515,000, up 2% compared with the median price of $505,000 for the three months to June 2013.

But the median price surged ahead by more than $100,000 in the Auckland region, hitting an all time high of $912,500 in the three months to June, up 15% of the median of $793,750 in the three months to June last year.

Over the same period the lifestyle median price was down 2.9% to $482,500 in Waikato and down 5.1% to $512,500 in Canterbury.

The number of lifestyle properties sold in Canterbury in June was at its lowest point since February 2011, when Christchurch suffered a catastrophic earthquake.

Lifestyle properties are also taking longer to sell.

The median number of days to sell a lifestyle property in the three months to June was 74 days, compared with 71 days in the three months to May and 69 days in the three months to June last year.

The quickest place to sell a lifestyle property was Gisborne where the median days to sell was 40, followed by Canterbury at 49 days.

In Auckland the median was 55 days to sell.

The places where lifestyle properties were the slowest to sell were the West Coast, 182 days, followed by Nelson, 122 days, and Wellington 117 days.

The number of lifestyle properties sold each month, compared with the same month in 2013.