On April 19, after more than a year of closed borders, New Zealand will finally be open to international visitors.
The long-awaited trans-Tasman travel bubble, announced this week, will allow quarantine-fee travel between New Zealand and Australia.
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Tourism operators across New Zealand are hopeful the bubble will revive an industry hit hard by the Covid-19 restrictions.
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A turnaround in fortunes could also help house prices in tourist towns.
Bayleys Frankton branch owner Stacy Coburn said that an influx of Australian visitors to Queenstown would be a boost for the housing market there.
Queenstown house prices suffered the most after the Government closed New Zealand’s borders and put the country into a two-month-long lockdown, dropping 7.7% and taking nine months to recover.
“Once Australian tourists are here and seeing Queenstown first hand, it will help with those emotional purchases. We may see a spike in buying,” Coburn said.
Colliers agent Richie Heap agreed, pointing out that Australian were the second largest customer group for Queenstown real estate.
“We have serious buyers from Australia and a lot of them are saying, ‘We are interested but we will buy when we have the ability to come over to New Zealand.’"
Economist Benje Patterson said that changes in Queenstown’s housing market would be most apparent in the rental sector.
Queenstown’s rental prices fell 15% after Covid, with many short-term rentals switching to long-term accommodation, but once the borders are open to Australia, rental prices would climb up again, Patterson said.
Coburn said that local buyers would likely switch their focus to properties suitable for short-term holiday letting.
“I think the return of Australians will see a lot of houses taken from the long-term rental pool and put into the short-term holiday accommodation pool,” he said.
“Once thing is certain - Queenstown is especially looking forward to overseas visitors.”
