Reality Check: Lifestyle block boom

A stop for a cup of tea in Cambridge was the beginning of a search for a country lifestyle for Aucklanders Debbie and Murray Vernon.

The Auckland traffic was driving them both crazy and they wanted their children, Sam, aged 7 and Olivia, 5, to have more room to play in a safe environment.

Debbie says after looking in the Cambridge Wrightsons real estate windows, they took a booklet back to Auckland.

Murray admits he was very keen. Debbie needed convincing. Her family live in Auckland and as a born and bred South Islander, she said the Waikato was not high on her list of places to live.

It took three months, and a couple of trips to Cambridge to look at potential "country lifestyle" properties and for Debbie to visit the local schools.

"The smaller country schools came up well in my research. We found a great property with plenty of room, and it's so quiet."

Two years on, Debbie is a Waikato convert and wouldn't move back to Auckland if you paid her.

The two children are fully involved at Kaipaki School, which comes complete with a school bus , and a calf club.

The steady drift of Aucklanders like the Vernons to lifestyle blocks helped push the lifestyle block median sale price to a record high of $355,000 in June. Although this eased back slightly to $352,000 in July, it is still well ahead of the July 2004 median of $302,000.

REINZ vice president and rural spokesperson Murray Cleland says lifestyle properties are in strong demand by city dwellers, some of whom are also looking at residential housing in small towns such as Morrinsville and Cambridge.

"Lifestyle property prices are up 16.5 per cent on a year ago, compared with residential property which has risen by 12.45 per cent in the same period. So you could say that, from an investment point of view, lifestyle properties are outperforming suburban residential properties, particularly as they are more closely aligned with rural values."

Wrightsons Real Estate Cambridge agent Mike Ensor, says there has been a steady increase of people choosing the country life. He sees Aucklanders, Hamilton city dwellers and now English buyers (usually via the internet) all looking for small lifestyle blocks.

Debbie and Murray say with the money they got for their Greenlane house they were able to buy a .55ha lifestyle block with an attractive 1924 weatherboard bungalow plus paddock for the pony and a self-contained one-bedroom guest house.

The mature trees, sweeping lawns and wide selection of fruit trees in the mini orchard complete the country lifestyle.

Murray works in nearby Hamilton and Debbie has got the hour and a half drive to Auckland down pat. Family and friends tend to visit them more than they did when they lived in Greenlane, and two sets of Auckland friends have also "gone to the country" after seeing Debbie and Murray's positive experience.

Cleland says for many city dwellers the lure of a small country school with a better teacher/pupil ratio and getting out of the city traffic were positives.

On the downside, he says parents can become taxi drivers, taking children to various events, "but perhaps they do that in the city, too."

"The closer to Auckland, the bigger the demand and the higher the price range," says Cleland.

North of Auckland was most popular with many electing to commute to the city or work from home. The improved roading system north of Auckland has influenced this trend.

"When the southern highway is completed there will be even more demand for lifestyle blocks, and country residential properties in places like Huntly and Te Kauwhata. The area north of Hamilton will start to really move."