Listen: Rural property - A tale of two islands

When it comes to rural real estate, the North Island is currently faring better than the South Island says Peter Newbold.

The GM for PGG Wrightson Real Estate spoke to The Country's Jamie Mackay about the reasons for the discrepancy between the islands.

Large metropolitan centres have an impact on North Island rural sales says Newbold, along with more properties and higher demand. Meanwhile the large dairy farms in the South Island have trouble with funding and, "well we know the issues in that space at the moment."

The number of farm sales have been "well back," in the past year says Newbold, but have been starting to look up in the last couple of months.

"Once we get through winter I think we'll see a better spring than we have before."

While Mycoplasma bovis has disrupted the sale of some farms, it has increased interest in run-off blocks, enabling farms to become self-contained.

"I think we'll see that right through the country. We've already seen it in key areas in the Waikato. As we move through the winter ... we're going to see a lot more activity in that market. So that will be good for some people who want to move on."

Also in today's interview: Peter Newbold gives his monthly round up of the rural property markets and introduces the latest Property of the Week.