Queenstown has seen a sudden surge in properties hitting the market, with one agent saying it feels like it’s suddenly switched back to being a buyer’s market.
OneRoof figures show the number of new residential listings for Queenstown-Lakes in the three months to the end of October 2024 was 35% higher than the previous three-month period, and up 24% year-on-year. This month alone has seen an extra 63 properties hit the market for sale.
Walker & Co director Hamish Walker told OneRoof the lift in new listings benefitted volumes at the bottom and top of Queenstown’s housing market.
“Normally, we get a flood of properties hitting the market in October, but this year, there’s been a lot more for sale. In the last month, it has turned into a buyers’ market,” he said. “There’s some pretty good buying at the moment.”
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He said shifts in the economy, falling rents, and a later-than-usual ski season impacting Airbnb bookings had all played their part.
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“I’ve got buyers who say they are going to wait another few months because they can see a lot of space in the market and a lot of options to buy. And then I’ve got vendors who say buyers should get in now because the market will heat up once falling interest rates take effect.”
On OneRoof, the number of homes for sale in Queenstown-Lakes with search prices of $3m-plus jumped to just over 100 in the last month. Eight of those have search prices of more than $10m.
Many of the prestige homes up for grabs are architectural stunners that make full use of the surrounding landscape.
Walker’s listing at 6 Caldwell Lane, in Lake Hayes, was designed by architect David Ponting and boasts panoramic views of the nearby mountain ranges.
Another Walker listing, a five-bedroom home at 4 Fishermans Lane, in Mount Creighton, was conceived by Alex Wilcock, a protégé of noted British designer Sir Terence Conran, and is nestled in the heart of Bobs Cove.
Over in Wānaka, at 24 Briar Bank Drive, Colliers agent Craig Myles is selling an architecturally designed home that looks out to Lake Wānaka and the surrounding mountain ranges.
All three homes have price expectations of upwards of $7m.
A designer home at 4 Fishermans Lane in Mount Creighton has been looking for a new owner for several months. Photo / Supplied
The five-bathroom, six-bedroom home has a price indication of $10m-plus. Photo / Supplied
Luxury Real Estate director Nick Horton told OneRoof he had been working with a number of clients who were looking to bring their Queenstown homes to market in the coming weeks and months.
Spring was always a popular time to list, he said, because most vendors wanted to make the most of the warmer weather and its effect on their gardens and landscaping.
The agency has a range of properties for sale, from exceptional parcels of land to tightly-held rural assets. One standout listing is a five-bedroom home on 2.68 hectares at 108 Hogans Gully Road, in Arrowtown, which was inviting buyer interest over $9m. Another listing, a four-bedroom waterfront home at 37 Arrowtown-Lake Hayes Road, has an asking price of $7.995m.
“In Queenstown, we enjoy direct flights from three major cities as well as Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch so we have abroad range of potential buyers – this shields us from some of the market fluctuations recently seen in other regions,” Horton told OneRoof.
“With only 18 houses on the market over $8m, it would only take three buyers from each city to clear the current stock in the sector of the market.”
A resort-style home at 37 Arrowtown-Lake Hayes Road overlooking Lake Hayes has an asking price of $7.995m. Photo / Supplied
High net worth buyers started showing interest in the large architecturally-designed home at 6 Bendemeer Lane as soon as it hit the market for sale. Photo / Supplied
However, Ray White Queenstown co-owner Bas Smith said Queenstown was a “small but intense” market, which had a “terrible lack of volume”, but some of the best capital gains in the world. Over the past two-and-a-half years it had been the only major metro not to suffer a drop in value.
“Because Queenstown receives such a big slice of the media exposure many assume there is a city-sized supply of properties to choose from, but there is not.”
Both Smith and Oliver Road managing director Cam Winter had witnessed a big uptick in buyer engagement and activity over the past few weeks.
“We’ve noticed a clear shift in buyers shopping with more intent. It’s important to remember that for the most part, there are discretionary purchasers. No one needs to buy a $10m property,” Winter told OneRoof.
A large eight-bedroom and seven-bathroom property at 6 Bendemeer Lane, in Lake Hayes, had only just been listed for sale and had already attracted interest from high net worth buyers. The home, which has a hidden underground wine cellar, spa and sauna, has an asking price of $12.5m.
“The scale as much as its style and quality is uncommon, even at this end of the market,” Winter said.
A lot of the more expensive Queenstown properties tended to be purchased as holiday homes, he said, and it was also less likely that they would be rented out as visitor accommodation.
“The relatively small financial benefit is far outweighed by their desire to have a fully available, unencumbered second home they can escape to at the drop of a hat.
“You will find people at these properties while the owners aren’t in residence, though. They’ll be gardening, cleaning, and maintaining the place.”
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