It was great to see the business community of Wānaka get together at Rippon on Saturday November 9 for the Wānaka Business Excellence Awards.

It is a privilege to MC the awards and to see such a range of businesses from Wānaka stepping up and being recognised. Well done to the Wānaka Business Chamber for organising the awards.

The October 2024 residential sales data has been released and the standout was the level of turnover (16 sales) in the sub $1.3M price category.

Almost half of the 35 sales were in that category which is effectively entry level for Wānaka.

*REINZ statistics – October 2024

If we compare that to the same time last year, there were only 10 sales under $1.3M compared to 16 for the same month this year, and that has lowered the median sale price by 10 percent compared to October last year, recording $1.3M.

I wouldn’t describe this as a price correction, it's more of a reflection of the mix of sales. So less turnover in the upper end with only a handful of sales over $2M.

We're expecting another interest rate reduction at the end of this month (November), how much that will be remains to be seen, but that will help add further momentum to the entry level market.

This is resulting in a more competitive environment for buyers, I wouldn’t call it significant but there is positive momentum in buyer inquiry.

Ray White Wānaka is situated at Sir Tim Wallis Drive Wānaka. Find out more here.