Aucklanders eye up Wairarapa property

Searches for Wairarapa properties that were reportedly made from within the Wellington region were at 27 per cent for the past year, followed closely by Auckland at 20 per cent.

The latest yearly report from Realestate.co.nz shows Wairarapa property searches from Auckland were almost as high as those from within the Wellington region.

The report said searches for Wairarapa properties that were made from within the Wellington region were at 27 per cent for the past year, followed closely by Auckland at 20 per cent.

Wairarapa property appears to not only be attracting attention from within New Zealand but also attention from across the Tasman.

Latest figures from Realestate NZ show that 12 per cent of Wairarapa property searches last month were made in Australia, however this is a seasonal low. Of these, 6 per cent were searched from Queensland, 3 per cent from Western Australia, and another 3 per cent from New South Wales.

Although there is a relatively high percentage of Australian interest in Wairarapa property, Property Brokers' Regional Manager Guy Mordaunt said the follow-through to purchase is not nearly as high as the data suggests.

"Over the past year, data from Realestate.co.nz shows that around 25 per cent of search interest for Wairarapa properties come from Australia," he said. "But we don't see that percentage actually follow through and move here.

"Something like 65 per cent of searches come from places like Auckland, Wellington, and Australia, and that's mainly due to their relative population sizes."

The asking price for real estate in Wairarapa has dropped over the past three months after a boom in March which left the average asking price at under $320,000 for the past year.

The average asking price in Auckland for the past year is more than twice this at just under $750,000.