The small town just south of Gore, and home to a meat works, large sections and wide streets, had the highest drop in the median price value of property of any area in New Zealand last year.
It dropped 10% last year, according to CoreLogic statistics.
Nationwide the median price was 5% down on last year. Softening of prices was more extreme in Auckland and Wellington, while places in the South had stayed reasonably solid, CoreLogic said last week.
But the good part for Mataura was for the five years up to last year the prices had gone up by 138% — which was the highest of any area in the country.
Not that the price of real estate going up is good news for everyone.
What may bring a smile to one sector of the property puzzle is the town of Mataura has the highest gross rental yield of any in the country, at 10.8%.
That was based on advertised rents and the values of those properties rented out.
Another way to look at that was rents had gone up in what are not highly valued houses.
The area with the lowest gross rental yields was in Auckland. The suburb of Whitford recorded the lowest rental yield of 1.2%, reflecting subdued rental returns in high value areas.
