Big month: Kelvin Collins

Queenstown’s property recovery is all-but confirmed with residential sales figures last month reaching a five-year high.

May’s 80 sales – 65 houses and apartments plus 15 sections – were the highest monthly figure since October 2007.

The sales’ value totalled $53 million.

Nine were over $1m including White Shadows estate on the Malaghans/Hunter Road corner which fetched a record price for a Queenstown house of about $7m, as revealed in Mountain Scene last month.

“Buyer demand has not noticeably increased but buyers are making decisions quicker where property is fair value,” local Real Estate Institute of New Zealand spokesman Kelvin Collins says.

Residential sales in the Wakatipu have now topped 60 for four months in a row.

There were 69 sales in February, 61 in March and 62 in April.

This compares with an average 48 sales per month last year.