Late summer surge for real estate

The Central Otago Lakes residential property market recorded the biggest increase in sales volume compared to other regions for the month of February.

There were 129 house sales in our district during February, an increase of 54 per cent on the previous February, according to statistics released by the Real Estate Institute recently.

Central Otago Lakes also recorded an 13.9 per cent increase in median price for February. The median price was up $55,000 from February 2012 to $363,750, with Queenstown sale prices accounting for most of that increase.

The district wide late summer surge in sales reflects national trends for February.

Nationally, 6,632 houses sold in February, an increase of 34% on January. The national median house price in February was $382,000.

The number of days to sell in Central Otago Lakes has improved by two days from 49 days in January to 47 days in February. Compared with February 2012, the number of days to sell has improved by 16 days.

Central Otago Lakes REINZ spokesperson, Gail Hudson says the market here continues to improve because there are more committed buyers and vendors are responding by listing their houses and meeting the market on price.

Posted on Wanaka Live 20 March 2013

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