The Wanaka market is continuing to buck predictions with yet another month of strong property sales. 

A predicted lull in the property market caused by COVID-19 has yet to happen here, and the upcoming election hasn’t yet slowed things down either.

“In past election years we have seen a slowdown, where buyers basically sit on their hands prior to the election day,” First National Wanaka sales manager Lynette Winsloe said. “However this is not the case for this election.” 

“There’s many reasons that could account for this and one I heard recently is that everyone expects the current government to return to power and accordingly there won’t be much change. Regardless of the reason, the property market continues to perform well.”

According to statistics from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, in August 2020 there were a total of 71 properties sold in the Wanaka and Upper Clutha area. 

There were 36 houses sold, ranging from $621,000 for a three bedroom Lake Hawea property, through to $3M for a four bedroom home at Mount Barker.

The 35 sections that sold started at $247,826 (plus GST) for a 400m2 site in Northlake and went through to $1,760,000 for a lakefront section on the front edge of Penrith Park.

Wanaka saw an increase of 14 per cent in the median sale price of houses from the same time last year.

The median price for houses in Wanaka in August was $1,285,000 and the median for sections was $385,000.

Lynette said buyer enquiry continued to be strong “and the sales team is kept busy sourcing new listings to satisfy these buyers”.

The total value of transactions was $63M.