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.
Monthly repayment by fixed term
A territorial-authority estimate: the Queenstown Lakes District median sale price on a 20% deposit and 30-year loan, against the TA median household income implied by HUD's income-to-buy ratio, at RBNZ new-mortgage rates. A market-wide guide, not a Lake Hayes-specific or borrower-specific figure.
QV House Price Index for the Queenstown Lakes District territorial authority (monthly, Jan 2007 = 1000). A valuation-based index of price movement over time — distinct from the actual median sale price above.
Figures are for the Queenstown Lakes District territorial authority (as at 2026-03). 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. Distribution covers people aged 15+ with stated income; counts are randomly rounded to base 3.
33.7% of private dwellings were unoccupied on 2023 census night (holiday homes, empty rentals, and vacant stock).
6% damp (+2pp vs 2018) and 2% with visible mould larger than A4 (+2pp vs 2018).
Investor-specific data (gearing, investor concentration) is not published for NZ suburbs — the tenure trend above is the available investor signal.
Stats NZ subnational projection (2023 base, medium series) for Queenstown-Lakes District — the finest official projection grain available; suburb-level projections do not exist.
Earthquake exposure is the distance from Lake Hayes's centre to the nearest mapped active fault (GNS Science NZ Active Faults Database) — an area estimate, not a site-specific seismic assessment. NZ's full ground-shaking model (NSHM) is not available as a queryable map layer.
Active Airbnb listings point-mapped to this suburb from Inside Airbnb (CC BY 4.0). Occupancy and revenue are estimates from Inside Airbnb's San Francisco model (review-rate proxy, minimum-stay assumption, occupancy capped at 70%) — they are gross, indicative, and not a guarantee of returns. Short-stay letting is subject to state and local regulation.
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 +0.6% in the year ended June 2025, after moving +1.6% in 2024, 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)); 4 transport stops (4 bus).
In 2026, Lake Hayes recorded 5 building approvals (5 houses, 0 units), down 16.7% year-on-year.
1 = least deprived · 10 = most deprived
Save suburbs here while you browse. Once the shortlist has two or more names, hand it straight into compare.
No saved NZ suburbs yet.
No saved suburbs yet. Start with one ranking or suburb page, then compare once you have two candidates.
Open rankings to save the first candidates.
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 and hospital coverage, 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, Some Access, Steady. 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.