Sales figures show price rises

A surge in sales of Northland land suitable for growing avocados has taken place, but details are scanty, with the sales not yet unconditional.

Forty-three Northland farms - one dairy, four finishing, 30 grazing, three forestry and five horticulture - were recorded in Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) sales for the three months ended September 30.

The dairy farm made $16,565 a hectare - far ahead of the $11,947 median for the region's September 2015 sales - and the grazing units had a $9182 per hectare sales median, similar to August 2016 prices but down on the $9868 median for September 2015.

The Northland finishing farms had a $17,596 sales median, well up on the $9213 for the region's finishing farm sales a year earlier, but down on the $26,835 a hectare median for the 74 finishing farms averaging 39ha sold nationally for the three months ended September 30.

The three Northland forestry blocks had a median sales price of $16,154 a hectare, up on the $10,984 median for August, but well down on the $35,853 median for the region's forest block sales for the three months to September 2015.

The five Northland horticulture sales had a median price of $160,796 a hectare, substantially ahead of the $138,724 median for the region's horticulture sales a year earlier.

REINZ rural spokesman Brian Peacocke said there was a positive mood and strong activity surrounding beef units in Northland, particularly in the start-up range of $6500-$7500 a hectare.

And he said there had been an interesting development for the region with a surge in sales of land suitable for growing avocados.

A Far North real estate agent which The Country questioned about this surge declined to discuss it until the sales were unconditional.

Nationally, there were 388 farm sales for the three months ended September 30, compared to 393 for the three months ended August 31 and 337 farm sales for the three months ended September 2015.

The median sales price per hectare for the 12 dairy farms averaging 112ha sold nationally for the three months to September 30 was $33,132, compared with $40,469 for the three months ended August 31 and $25,108 for the three months ended September 2015. The median price for dairy farms has risen 32 per cent over the past 12 months.

The median sales price for the 74 finishing farms averaging 39ha sold nationally for the three months to September 30 was $26,834 a hectare, compared to $27,208 a hectare for 75 properties sold in the three months ended August 31 and $25,414 a hectare for 65 finishing farms sold in the three months to September 2015.

The median price for finishing farms has increased 5.6 per cent over the past 12 months.

Meanwhile, 88 Northland lifestyle property sales with a median price of $380,000 were recorded for the three months ended September 30, with the REINZ highlighting a strong market in the region for lifestyle blocks in the $350,000-$500,000 range, with buyer resistance over $700,000-$800,000 and listings in short supply.

Nationally, there were 2230 lifestyle property sales for a median price of $530,000 in the three months ended September and 9122 lifestyle sales in the year to September 30 - 20 per cent more than were sold in the year to September 2015 and and now the largest number of lifestyle properties sold in a 12-month period for the past 20 years.

The value of the lifestyle properties sold for the year to September 30 was $6.86 billion.

Brian Peacocke said the very high volume of lifestyle property sales for the three months ended September 30 confirmed the strength and health of the market, to the extent that the high volumes now appeared to be the norm.