The average house price has dropped nationally, data shows, while the Southland market is going strong with a small but steady increase in price.
In a media release last week, QV said its House Price Index showed average home values across New Zealand dipped by 0.5% over three months to the end of July.
However, Southland values rose 1.3% over the quarter, because the region was buoyed by the primary sector and a low entry to the residential property market, it said.
Two Gore real estate agents have echoed these claims, saying the market has low entry-level prices and out-of-towners are attracted by a better quality of life.
Arizto real estate agent Leigh Jackson said because the region’s house prices were still very fair compared with the rest of the country, they were attracting buyers.
"That's probably why we're managing to hold our prices well," she said.
The rural community and more job opportunities were also an attractive prospect to out-of-town home buyers, she said.
Ms Jackson said the average house price in Gore was in the mid-400s, which was affordable for first home buyers and investors.
"They are definitely our biggest buyer pool at the moment," she said.
The QV statistics showed the average price in Southland for the three-month quarter was $505,467, possibly dragged up by the Invercargill average of $507,403.
Gore’s was listed as $442,299.
Ray White agent Nicole Cronin said there was a "confidence" in the Gore market, coupled with a strong local economy.
She also had seen a return of investors and first home buyers as well as a migration from the North to the South.
People were also taking the opportunity to upgrade their home, she said.
With interest rates dropping, she also said first-home buyers may have been holding out until they dropped even lower.
"Now they’re probably feeling confident ... that they’re at a good rate to [buy]," she said.
Arizto launched in Gore just over a year ago, and Ms Jackson said her firm was doing the majority of Gore sales.
"People love what we offer," she said.
When asked about Auckland home buyers migrating to Southland, she joked that they better stay up north.
"I just think people pooh-pooh Southland a little bit, but they just don't understand that it is actually a really nice, safe community to live in, generally," she said.
