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International Real Estate: Property Gold Rush in New Zealand

Posted November 21, 2007

“New Zealand is experiencing another “rush”: Real estate and wine. Thanks to American, European, and New Zealand investors, where once you found sleepy villages, you now see bed and breakfasts, apart-hotels, bars, shops, and golf courses.” — International Living

by International Living, Today’sFinancialNews.com

Baltimore — (TFN): The gold rush hit town in the 1860s and 70s. Irish, Australian, and Chinese prospectors sought their fortunes by sifting through the sands of the Arrow and Shotover rivers.

Eventually all the gold left town. After a while, so did the people. This part of New Zealand, deep in the far south, went quiet. Arrowtown became a ghost-town. It still featured on country calendars, mostly because of its poplar trees clad in fall colors.

Queenstown and Frankton, on mountain-surrounded Lake Wakatipu, became camping and tramping sites and bases for hill country sheep properties. Cromwell earned a reputation for stone fruits and extremes of weather — hot, dry summers and harsh winters blown by bone-chilling Antarctic winds.

Real estate growth prospects

But now New Zealand is experiencing another “rush”: Real estate and wine.

Thanks to American, European, and New Zealand investors, where once you found sleepy villages, you now see bed and breakfasts, apart-hotels, bars, shops, and golf courses. Rumor has it that one private golf course hopes to host the World Pro Cup in 2008.

The schist region in the far south has become the pivotal point for development. Building codes impose a harmony that must reflect the grey/beige tones and where possible incorporate the actual granite stone slabs, recalling the first cottages built in the area 165 years ago.

This land is also playing host to new vineyards. There are acres and acres of carefully tended vines spread across north-facing hills. The vines reflect and retain the sun on the long, hot summer days, then go dormant in the frost- and snow-chilled winter months. Twenty years after the first plantings of the (predominantly) pinot noir grapes, Central Otago’s wines are making an important name for themselves within the world’s best wines.

There are many activities in the district such as golfing, trout and salmon fishing, hiking, trekking, and para-gliding. Or take in a wine trail, where you visit four or five vineyards — spend the day sipping wines and tasting local cheese or other regional delicacies.

Read more about the prospects for New Zealand in International Living.


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