One in five home-buyers in Queenstown are first-timers, despite soaring property prices

Gold Rush: Who's Cashing In on Queenstown? An RNZ series examining the money flowing into Queenstown - and who's missing out.

The number of first-home buyers in Queenstown has climbed to an 18-year high, making up 19 percent of all the district's property purchases in 2025.

That is despite soaring property prices and thousands of people on waitlists for affordable housing schemes - with one buyer facing a $600,000 average increase in house prices since he first started looking.

The figures, from property analytics firm Cotality, follow a year in which the district hit a record asking price of $1.6 million, up nearly 20 percent on the previous year.

Christian Belmont, who has lived in Queenstown for more than a decade, said it was far from easy to buy a house in what was now the most expensive district in New Zealand.

"I think I have like 60 to 80 percent of all the real estate agents' phone numbers on my phone, because I've been to dozens and dozens and dozens of open homes and talked with every single real estate agent that I possibly could," he said.

He and his fiancé have been looking for a house since 2020, after he returned from a short stint in Auckland.

"It's a long process and I totally recognise a lot of people are in the same boat. We're very lucky to even have the opportunity to be in this process, very lucky to have the opportunity to even live here. But it still can be frustrating."

Belmont, a project manager at a local school, said his main motivation was simply to get away from the uncertainty of the rental market, but his hopes had been dashed time and again by undisclosed body corporate fees, or other issues "under the hood" that locked him and his fiancé out from buying.

"There are a lot of real estate agents. There are a lot of opportunities. There are a lot of really beautiful houses that you go and see, and something means that you can't get it or somebody can beat you out for it," he said.

The couple had resigned themselves to a 10 percent deposit, saying 20 percent was simply out of reach.

Still, putting that together - while living with his partner and mother in a rental - had been "pretty darn hard", Belmont said.

'Overwhelming' demand for affordable housing scheme

Many in Belmont's position had turned to an affordable housing scheme run by the not-for-profit Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust.

It had built 30 houses in Arrowtown on land provided by the council, with another 38 to go, partly aimed at making it easier for buyers to get a foot in the door.

Its Tewa Banks development included social housing, affordable rentals, rent-to-buy houses and 'assisted ownership' houses - where people could purchase the house, but the land would be retained in perpetuity by the Trust.

To sign up, people had to live and work in the Queenstown Lakes District, not own any other property, and have a maximum household income of $130,000.

"We've got a lot of tradies, we've got some senior housing up the front for senior retirees who don't obviously own or have other income or assets."

More than 1600 households were on the waitlist, chief executive Julie Scott said.

"We've had overwhelming demand for these homes. I mean, Arrowtown in itself is such a desirable location, but just it's been extraordinary, the demand," she said.

The first residents came from a wide range of backgrounds, Scott said.

"We've got a high school teacher just in one of these [houses] with his son. We've got a lot of tradies, we've got some senior housing up the front for senior retirees who don't obviously own in other income or assets. We've got a heap of families and they're just working all the jobs that keep the town functioning."

Scott said when it came to meeting the demand for affordable housing in Queenstown, she was hopeful the government would work with councils.

"One thing that we would like to see is a really good regional deal that gives us tools to help level the playing field for, for workers and lower-moderate income households," she said.

"I think government support for all sorts of housing programmes, for the last couple of years, has been fairly limited. There's been five Community Housing providers across the country that have been chosen to partner with the government to deliver social housing. There's probably about another 90 of us sitting in the back wings across the country, kind of scratching our head thinking how do we help the people in our communities?"

First home buyers looking further afield, or to new developments

Bayleys Queenstown sales manager Dee McQuillan said despite the sharp rise in house prices, buying a property under $1m in Queenstown was "absolutely" still possible.

She said there had been rising optimism among first-home buyers as interest rates fell.

Some first-home buyers had been looking further afield to sections in Kingston, while others had been taking an interest in developments like Frankton's Five Mile Villas, she said.

"Interest is mostly going to those new offerings and building a bit further away," she said.

"And from time to time, we do get something a little bit unusual that's very old and maybe needs some work, that might be just under or just around that $1 million mark as well, in areas like Frankton or Fernhill."

Buyers competing with holiday homes, short-term rentals

Data from the previous census showed just over a quarter of Queenstown's houses were empty at any given time, including holiday homes and properties used for short-term rentals.

The website AirROI showed AirBnB listings that made up about the equivalent of about 15 percent of Queenstown.

Belmont said as a prospective first-home buyer, it could be frustrating to see how many homes were being bought by investors for use as holiday homes or short-term accommodation.

"In my experience, tourists don't just come for the beauty, which is obviously a huge piece of it, but the vibe of Queenstown is what keeps people coming back, how friendly we are to them, how accommodating the Kiwis are, and locals are, to tourists. And sometimes I get frustrated with tourists, like they took that house for Airbnb," he said.

"The frustrating thing is that how long can this go on before the community actually isn't that desirable to come to ... I feel like there's a critical mass that we're approaching.

"We're trying to have it both ways and maybe if we keep on trying to have it both ways, we won't be able to have it either way. If that makes sense. It's scary to me as someone who's super, super invested in Queenstown as a place and wants to keep it amazing."

Despite that, he said he was set on living in Queenstown, and driven to be a part of its future.

"We even looked at Oamaru actually, we were really down to move to Oamaru. We were very close to it. But … we really think of Queenstown as our home. My partner and I met each other here. We are committed, we're getting married here next year ... our family is here. Our careers are here and also - you don't want to betray the town that you love by leaving in many ways because you think you can add value to the town as well. So we both want to stay and help fix it."

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.