The most expensive lifestyle property sales of 2021

The property market slowdown is hitting lifestyle blocks too, but last year’s most expensive lifestyle property sales still went for more than $15 million.

The Real Estate Institute, which collects data about sales by licensed real estate salespeople, said last year’s priciest sale was 54 Twin Peak View near Glenorchy in Queenstown, which sold for $17m in October 2021.

It is a 1000 square metre, architecturally-designed house with four luxury bedroom suites, an office, a bar, a cinema, a games room and a five-car garage.

The house sits on a freehold 3.006 hectare block, and has shared ownership of 89 hectares of land, including 9km of hiking trails, a waterfront clubhouse and a trout-filled fishing lake.

But the property had been on the market before, and with a far more expensive asking price. Back in 2017 it was listed for $33m, but it did not sell.

Homes.co.nz said 114 Mooney Rd in Speargrass Flat in Queenstown sold for even more.

The five-bedroom, three-bathroom home, which sits on 9.1554 hectares of land, sold for $18.25m in August last year. It previously sold for $4.2m in March 2014.

Lifestyle properties at 9 Alan Murray Lane on Waiheke Island in Auckland and 92 Wilding Rd in Queenstown also went for particularly high prices, according to Homes.co.nz.

The Wilding Rd property, which had 30,308sqm of land, sold for $14.5m in August, while the Waiheke property, which had 15,244sqm of land, went for $10.25m in June.

In contrast, last year’s cheapest sales were for less than the deposit on an average Auckland house.

The Real Estate Institute said the cheapest price paid last year was $31,050 for 2267 Winton-Hedgehope State Highway in Hedgehope in Southland, in June. It was a 300sqm dwelling on 4983sqm of land.

But Homes.co.nz’s cheapest sale was 2587 Clifden Blackmount Road in Otautau in Southland, which sold for $92,000 last March. It was a one-bedroom, one-bathroom house on 14,436sqm of land.

Another property in Southland (213 Reid Rd in Drummond) and one in Westport (38 Neighbours St in Waimangaroa) rounded out Homes.co.nz’s three cheapest lifestyle property sales of 2021.

The Drummond property, which had 26,133sqm of land, went for $520,000, while the Westport property, which had 18,749sqm of land, went for $170,000.

While lifestyle properties continue to sell, the Real Estate Institute’s latest figures showed a significant decline in sales in recent months.

There were 1938 lifestyle properties sold nationwide in the three months ending January. But that was 274 fewer sales than the 2212 sold in the previous three months, and represented a 12.4 per cent decline.

Sales were also down by 28.9 per cent on the same period last year when 2724 properties were sold nationwide.

There were 9026 lifestyle sales over the year ending January, which was 4.4 per cent less than in the year ending January 2021.

Real Estate Institute rural spokesman Brian Peacocke said the annual drop was significant, but when sales volumes were compared on a monthly basis, the January figures showed a “massive” reduction of 47.5 per cent from December.

While the holiday period might account for some of the reduction, December and January had the same level of impact from the holiday period, he said.

“So one needs to look beyond that to ascertain if other external factors may be causing such a significant drop in sales volumes.

“An immediate response is to question whether the tightening of lending criteria by the banks is a contributing or significant factor.”

On an annual basis, the decline in sales was widespread, with just Westport recording an increase in sales compared to January last year.

Auckland and Canterbury had the biggest decreases in sales in the three months to January compared to the same period last year.

Despite the downward sales trend, the median price over the three months to January was up, to $1,077,500. That was an increase of 28 per cent, or $236,000, on the three months ending January 2021.

The median price was up in 13 regions in the three months ending January, compared to the same period last year, with the biggest increases in the West Coast and Auckland. They were up 85.6 per cent and 46 per cent respectively.

Peacocke said that on a regional basis there was volatility in sales volumes and values, and it was possible that could be an enduring component within the current marketplace.

The total value of the lifestyle properties sold in the year to January was $10.57 billion.