House-hunters and investors hoping to bag a bargain in Queenstown may be out of luck.
Agents in the Queenstown Lakes region say prices are on the rise again - due to a lack of listings.
READ MORE: Find out if your suburb is rising or falling
Twelve months ago property values in Queenstown Lakes took a tumble as a result of the Covid lockdown and remained stubbornly below pre-Covid levels until December.
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While the rest of New Zealand was in boom mode, Queenstown was at the bottom of the heap, plagued by flat property prices and a fear that Queenstown’s economy would be seriously damaged by the ban on international visitors – the perfect conditions for picking up a bargain in New Zealand’s most expensive property market.
Although the region has seen value growth of just 9% in the last 12 months, compared to the nationwide figure of 25%, the market there has been gaining momentum in the last quarter, buoyed by the trans-Tasman travel bubble, with its median value now sitting at $1.108m.
A modern family home in Arrowtown sold under the hammer for $3.49m last month. Photo / Supplied
Bayleys Frankton branch manager David Gubb said buyers hoping to secure bargains in Queenstown were unlikely to find them.
“It had been flat for a while but there were never any real bargains to be had after the lockdown,” he said.
“Australians and Aucklanders are back in the market now,” he said.
He noted two recent auction sales in Arrowtown that had generated a lot of buyer interest: a four-bedroom family home which fetched $3.49m, and neighbouring property that sold for $2.53m, more than $1m above its RV.
Colliers agent Richie Heap said scarcity of stock was an issue in the current market, with listings dropping to their lowest level since 2016. “There are no bargains because there is hardly anything on the market. And when it’s listed it gets snapped up right away,” he added.
His colleague, James O’Hagan, said the window of opportunity for bargain-hunters had well and truly closed.
“There was a narrow window of opportunity [last year] when prices weren’t growing.”
There was no panic-selling of investor stock post-lockdown, as some had expected.
“We didn’t see a lot of distressed sales, and by the end of 2020 all the reductions in prices had been recovered and there’s been no slowdown since,” O’Hagan said.
Kawarau Heights is Queenstown's newest subdivision, with 100 sections available for sale. Photo / Supplied
He said everything that’s hit the market this year has been snapped up, often with multi-offers.
O’Hagan is marketing a new residential subdivision above Lake Hayes Estate. There are 100 freehold sections available in the Kawarau Heights development, with the first roll-out of sales scheduled for next month.
O’Hagan said he already fielded enquiries from Queenstown, Auckland, Nelson and Wellington.
“An influx of people coming from overseas and expats returning home is adding to strong existing local demand. Fear of missing out remains apparent among prospective purchasers.”
