Tall Poppy Central Otago has won the medium franchise of the year award for the fourth time, along with the New Zealand franchise of the year award at the businesses national conference and annual awards evening. 

Business owner Peter Hishon said it was a milestone for the team and they were excited to nab the win over 30 other franchises and keep building on their success. 

“I have to emphasise that it was a big team effort between Cromwell, Alexandra [and] Clyde, where we had . . . about three or four of us in the top 10 for the company.

“[We] did extremely well for the size of our area, because we're up against successful franchises in cities where they've got thousands of houses compared to our little minuscule amount. So, our market share has been very healthy over the last 12 months to win that award.”

Peter said housing affordability in Central is “still quite good” and although nationwide house prices have cooled off, Central remains a popular location as it offers one of the better lifestyle areas in the country.

“Young ones [are] dropping out of Wānaka, Queenstown into Cromwell because it's more affordable and you're getting a lot of the young ones in Cromwell dropping down to Alex and Clyde for affordability. And, over the past year or two, we've even had people dropping further out into the outer areas like Omakau and Roxburgh for affordability.”

Today’s The Outlet podcast features Peter talking about trends in Central’s housing market, tips for first home buyers, and those looking to downsize or retire in Central.

Read more: Peter Hishon - Property Contributor on Downsizing for retirement

Read more: Peter Hishon - Property Contributor on Upsizing for growing families