Wairarapa farm prices see-sawed in September with an overall increase offset by a drop in lifestyle block prices, latest statistics reveal.
Bryan Thomson, Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) spokesman, said four of six farms and 40 of 60 lifestyle blocks that changed hands in the Wellington region in September
were sold in Wairarapa, according to the organisation's latest Rural Market Report.
The median farm price in the Wellington region increased to $2,037,500 over the month, from $1,935,000 in August, while the median price for lifestyle blocks fell to $427,500 from $470,000 the previous month, he said.
The median Wellington farm price for the same month last year was $1,810,00 and for lifestyle blocks in the same period was $440,000.
Mr Thomson said that of the six farms sold in Wellington in September, four were grazing and one each was finishing and forestry. Eight farms were sold in the region the previous month and one changed hands in September last year.
Mr Thomson said the rural property market nationally remains constrained but median farm prices had shown a slight improvement over the same period last year.
Across the country, the median farm price for the three months to September 2010 was $1,012,500, which is well up on the median price of $877,500 for the same period last year, he said.
In the three months to the end of September 2010, 164 farms changed hands, a 14.6 per cent decrease on the 192 sold in the three months to August, but just 7.9 per cent down on the 178 sold in the three months to September 2009.
"Although the national median farm sale price showed a slight improvement in the three months to September 2010 compared to the same period last year, it was still well down on the median of $1,672,500 for the equivalent period in 2008," Mr Thomson said.
The median price for the 12 dairy farms sold across the country in the three months to September was $3,163,121, which is up slightly on the total for the three months to August 2010 of $3,100,000.
