Hot in Queenstown

Queenstown

With its sense of romance and intrigue, its exceptional popularity with overseas visitors, and local migrants alike, Queenstown Lakes District has a uniquely complex property market and it’s been subject to runaway growth over the past 30 years.

The gold rush days, which began in 1862, were good for Queenstown itself, but afterwards development was fairly stagnant and fifty years ago the town still consisted of little more than a few cribs and houses on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, with a population of just two or three thousand. It was popular with locals from Otago and Southland and the occasional tourist from further afield who arrived to check out what was the first commercial ski field in New Zealand, at Coronet Peak, which opened in 1947.

Interestingly, the Japanese were some of Queenstown’s earliest large-scale modern international adopters, back in the 1980s while these days, Chinese, Australian and European visitors also abound. Marketing itself as the adventure capital of the world, Queenstown and its environs offer tramping, fishing, jet-boating, bungy jumping and much more, along with a thriving wine and food trade.

Growth phase