The rural property market was looking reasonably positive in the three months to the end of November, with farm sales and prices both being up compared to the same period of last year.
According to the Real Estate Institute of NZ there were 336 farm sales in the three months ended November, up 27.8% compared to the three months ended October and up 6.3% compared to the three months ended November last year (see graph below for the regional breakdown).
The REINZ All Farm Price Index, which adjusts for differences in the size, type and location of farms sold, was up 2.5% in the three months ended November compared to the same period of last year and up 3.6% compared to the three months ended October.
REINZ spokesman Brian Peacocke said favourable weather conditions had helped the rural property market.
"Climatic conditions during November continued to benefit most of the rural sector, with widespread rain and warm temperatures creating abundant pasture growth across the country," he said.
However, there were also a few rough patches.
"Heavy rain and high humidity are causing grief within segments of the horticulture, arable and vegetable growing sectors," Peacocke said.
There had been damage to cherry crops in Central Otago, difficulty with grain crops in some regions and the total obliteration of a large asparagus crop in central Waikato due to an unseasonal hailstorm.
Dairy farm prices are also down compared to last year, with the REINZ Dairy Farm Price Index, which adjusts for differences in dairy farm size and location, being down 8.6% based on sales in the three months to the end of November compared to the same period of last year.
The number of farms sold in the three months to November was down 21% compared to the same period of last year.
Sales of lifestyle bocks were also down, with 1769 lifestyle properties selling in the three months ended November, down 3.3% compared to the same period of last year (see chart below).
In the 12 months to November 7131 lifestyle properties were sold, down 7.9% compared to the previous 12 months.
However prices were up.
The median price of lifestyle properties sold in the three months to November was $665,000, up $45.000 (+7.3%) compared to the same period of last year.
Farm sales
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Lifestyle blocks sold - REINZ
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4 Comments
I posted a week or two ago about my commute across the Waikato having 9 dairy farms for sale on the 100km return commute i travel split between two routes. That's directly on the road not the additional ones down side roads.
Since then another has come up for Auction, so I'm at 10 dairy farms. One that's been on the market for 18months has carved off 4x 2acres blocks@ $400k ea. The rest sit there with the standard key words: Motivated, Retiring, Exiting the industry...
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