The recovery of New Zealand’s kiwifruit industry is driving up horticultural property sales in the nation’s key growing region, according to media reports.
Last week the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand released figures indicating the number of farm sales nationwide were at a four-year high.
Sales in the Bay of Plenty area were particularly strong, with prices returning to levels not seen since the outbreak of the vine killing disease Psa more than three years ago.
Katikati-based rural salesman Stewart Couper said confidence had been restored in the Bay of Plenty’s kiwifruit sector following orchard gate returns of up to NZ$200,000 (US$164,500) per ha over the last six months.
“There were six sold in Katikati alone in December and we are getting good prices for them,” Couper told the Bay of Plenty Times. “One extremely good property almost doubled its rateable value, which was NZ$720,000 (US$592,400). It was sold for over NZ$1.3m (US$1m).
“The confidence is linked to good orchard gate returns. We have seen an increase of 50 cents per tray, and that adds up when you are pumping out a lot of trays.”
The Real Estate Institute’s report indicated over 1700 farms were sold across New Zealand in the 12 months to 31 December 2013, the most in close to half a decade.In the December quarter alone 292 more farms were sold than in the corresponding period of 2012.
