Lake Hayes is in Otago, New Zealand, with population 372.
This page still helps with local context, but the evidence stack is too thin for a clean suburb-level call. Use nearby alternatives or compare mode before turning it into a shortlist decision.
Lower deprivation supports a livability-led read.
The page is thin enough that nearby alternatives should be checked before shortlisting. Small local population makes the signal set more fragile.
Figures are for the Queenstown Lakes District territorial authority (as at 2026-02). New Zealand has no free suburb-level sale-price series, so these are TA-wide medians from HUD Local Housing Statistics (LINZ District Valuation Roll + Stats NZ) — a market backdrop for Lake Hayes, not a Lake Hayes-specific sale price.
Median individual income. NZ has no suburb-level household-income or sale-price data, so this is a personal-income benchmark, not a household-affordability measure.
Lake Hayes is a small community in Otago with a population of 372 and a median age of 52. Median personal income is $58K per year. The main ethnic groups are European, Māori, Asian. Otago population estimates moved +1.2% in the year ended June 2024, after averaging +1.6% a year from 2018 to 2023, which should be read as a broader regional movement backdrop rather than suburb-level migration precision. The resident employment base moved from 207 in 2018 to 213 in 2023 (+2.9%), which should be read as a census-to-census employment backdrop rather than a live jobs series. Te Waihanga's December 2025 Pipeline snapshot tracked over 12,000 NZ infrastructure initiatives, with more than 2,700 under construction and transport taking 52% of projected 2026 pipeline spend, which should be read as a broader national delivery backdrop rather than a suburb-specific project list.
Livability indicators for Lake Hayes: NZDep decile 1 (low deprivation (affluent)).
In 2026, Lake Hayes recorded 2 building approvals (2 houses, 0 units), down 66.7% year-on-year.
1 = least deprived · 10 = most deprived
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Lake Hayes is a thin local read, not a complete suburb verdict.
NZ suburb pages combine Stats NZ, MBIE, MoE, GTFS, and pinned service coverage. The key difference is that some items are direct feeds, while others are fallback or snapshot layers.
Treat current rent as a decision input, not as a guaranteed market quote.
This is a trusted coverage layer, but it is still a pinned snapshot rather than a live facility API.
It is good for stop presence and local network context, but not a guarantee that every operator or schedule is equally current.
This page stays indexable because Lake Hayes still carries enough real local context to help with NZ suburb discovery. It should still be read as a lighter locality brief, not as a fully covered suburb profile.
That leaves the page relying more on Census and service context than on a stronger market read.
The lighter areas here are school matches, hospital coverage, and transport stops, so one sparse reading should not stand in for the whole suburb story.
Begin with the region hub, compare, or better-covered nearby suburbs before making this a full market decision.
The page still has enough real suburb context to remain searchable, but some market and service layers are too light for a full-confidence read.
Frame the locality with this page, then pressure-test the story in compare, the region hub, or a better-covered nearby suburb before calling it complete.
If Lake Hayes feels too thin on its own, use these nearby suburbs as stronger local reads before treating it as a full shortlist call.
pop +100 · adds rent coverage · income -$1K
Similar local read: useful for context, but still compare the actual market signals.
pop +400 · adds rent coverage · income -$1K
Better covered alternative: use this as the stronger reference point before judging the thin page.
QuickProperty's livability signals for Lake Hayes show: Low, Slowing. These are based on rent affordability, school EQI, NZDep deprivation index, and transport access.
Housing data comes from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ). Demographics are from Stats NZ Census 2023. Schools data uses the Ministry of Education Equity Index (EQI). The deprivation score uses NZDep2018. Transport data is sourced from GTFS feeds.
RBNZ macro data updates with each deploy. Demographics are from NZ Census 2023. School EQI scores are from the Ministry of Education latest release.