And with wealthy Auckland investors driving demand in the region, the third time could be the charm, a property analyst says.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council has put the 9.532ha commonage block of land on Queenstown Hill back on the market, listing it with Colliers.
Broker Alastair Wood said he anticipated a lot of interest across Australasia for the land, which could be turned into 250 lots.
"It’s the last block of council development land to go out to the market, and there’s not much land available in Queenstown anyway, certainly not at the high end.
"So as land goes, it’s right up there."
Most of the commonage land, entrusted to the council in 1971, was developed during the period of 1975-2002, providing residential dwellings across Belfast Tce, Kent St, Manchester Pl and Edinburgh Dr. So far, about 30ha of the commonage land has been developed.
The available land was zoned medium density, and could have space for 70 to 250 lots, Mr Wood said.
"It will depend on who picks it up, and it will be dependent on the aspirations of the developer.
"But I would expect this land will sell more than $20 million."
The council attempted to dispose of the land in 2017 and 2021, but on both occasions was unsuccessful.
In 2018, the Otago Daily Times reported the land attracted more than 80 inquiries and five formal purchase offers were made, but it was taken off the market after a suitable deal could not be reached.
Since then the price of resort property has skyrocketed, the median property price in the area rising from $1.19m in August 2018 to $1.67m in September last year.
CoreLogic chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said it should be a good time to go out to market.
"Demand is so strong at the moment.
"It’s not only due to increased population, but also there is wealth coming into the market, particularly as the tourism industry bounces back from Covid-19."
The rate of new builds was not nearly keeping up with demand, he said.
"Supply is squeezed and it’s not a first-time buyers’ market at all.
"Our research shows that only 13% of buyers in Queenstown last year were first-timers ... we’ve seen owners of multiple properties become a significant force in the market, particularly those using credit built up in Auckland.
"It’s about wealth as opposed to income which is driving these trends."
Colliers will begin marketing the site early next month.
