After the COVID-19 lockdown led to a surge in interest in lifestyle blocks, sales of the properties remain high throughout the country, according to the latest figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ).
For the three months ended April 2021, there were 2513 lifestyle property sales, an increase of 70.8 percent on the 1471 sales for the same period in 2020.
Sales for the three months ended April this year were also up 8.9 percent on the three months ended March 2021, with 205 more sales taking place.
The increase comes after sales eased earlier this year.
"Sales figures for the three-month period ending 30 April confirms the popularity of lifestyle properties amongst the ranks of purchasers as total sales for the period throughout the country recover well after an easing over the previous two months of reporting," Brian Peacocke, REINZ rural spokesman, said on Monday.
"However, as to be expected as autumn heads towards winter, sales numbers for the month of April have eased 12.5 percent from the strong performance recorded for the month of March."
Peacocke said "a further endorsement of the popularity of lifestyle properties" was the fact the national median price has continued to increase, rising 25.5 percent for the three months ended April 2021 compared to the same period a year earlier. The median price for the period was $890,000 - $181,000 higher than the same time in 2020.
"The general comment across the country is that the lifestyle market is strong with a number of regions reporting a shortage of stock," Peacocke said.
A total of 9942 lifestyle properties were sold in the year to April 2021, 3137 more than were sold in the year to April 2020 - an increase of 46.1 percent.
The value of lifestyle properties for the year ended April was $9.72 billion.
All 13 regions monitored by REINZ recorded an increase in sales compared to April last year, with Auckland (+212) and Waikato (+172) seeing the biggest increase in sales.
The smallest increase was in Otago, which had nine more sales in the three months to April 2021 compared to the same time a year earlier.
Compared to the three months to March 2021, all regions except Auckland had an increase in sales.