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Source: ONE News -
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The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) says rural property sales are continuing to drop off.
REINZ President Peter McDonald says there are still reasonable levels of inquiries for all types of farms but they do not seem to be resulting in completed transactions.
The body says the national median farm sale price remained steady at $1.045 million for the three months to February 2010, up a fraction on the median for the three months to January 2010.
However, it is well down on the $1.75 million recorded in the three months to February 2008.
The total number of farms sold to February was 205, compared with 276 in the same period a year ago and 713 farms sold in the three months to February 2008.
"Only eleven dairy farms were sold nationwide in the month of February, which remains in line with the decline we noted in January," says McDonald.
On a regional basis, Waikato recorded the most sales at 29, followed by 28 in Canterbury.
Grazing properties accounted for the largest number of farms by type, with 89 sales recorded throughout the country in the three months to February 2010.
But REINZ says while farm sales have dropped, lifestyle properties continue to be standout performers, with turnover and prices bucking the trends in the residential dwelling and other rural markets.
The national median selling price for lifestyle properties in the three months to February 2010 was $438,000, down $17,000 on the median price for the three months to January.
That compares with $445,000 and $455,000 in the three months to February 2009 and 2008 respectively.
Median prices were highest in Auckland at $700,000, with the lowest prices seen on the West Coast, at $150,000.
