Central Otago real estate has seen a 10% increase in asking price, with a similar drop in supply of housing compared to this time last year. 

Earlier, Trade Me Property Sales Director Gavin Lloyd told The Central App the statistic follows the national trend.

“In August the average asking price for a property in Central Otago was $704,100, making a 10% increase when compared with the same month last year,” Gavin says.

“Last month we saw a 9% drop in demand for properties in Central Otago when compared with August 2020, while supply was also down 49% year-on-year.”

Tall Poppy Central Otago real estate agent Peter Hishon says Covid-19 lockdown has slowed things but the bounce back is inevitable. 

“Obviously things have slowed a little after the past three weeks lockdown,” he says, “however we are bouncing back very quickly to pre-lockdown activity, which was very strong sales period for Tall Poppy over August.”

Local Tall Poppy Real Estate agent Peter Hishon says Covid-19 has slowed the sector but is already bouncing back to pre-lockdown levels. 

“Listings locally as with most of NZ are well done on historical levels both in Cromwell and Alexandra areas, and as a consequence demand is still very strong across the board on most types of properties, this is also prevalent in Wanaka /Queenstown.

“The percentage increases that were experienced over the last 12 months are unlikely to continue, but with supply demand imbalance prices are likely to stay firm well into the foreseeable future.

“Prices are also been kept firm by the shortage of residential Sections ready to build on, and bare land rural blocks are in short supply across Central Otago.”

Peter says the growth of Central Otago as well as the attractiveness as a place to live is a major selling point. 

“The new bike park proposal out Little Valley and the new trail from Clyde to Cromwell will further strengthen our attractive lifestyle status as more kiwis are moving to the better lifestyle areas of NZ as working from home becomes more popular, and more and more Kiwis are discovering our part of NZ.”