- The Far North property market is a buyer’s market, with many listings on the Karikari Peninsula.
- Joel Vieviorka expects bargains until mid-2026, citing low buyer confidence and high interest rates.
- The area attracts retirees and expat Kiwis, with diverse properties ranging from $100,000 to $750,000.
It’s a buyer’s market in the Far North, according to real estate sales specialist Joel Vieviorka – but not for long.
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On the Karikari Peninsula alone, Haze Real Estate has 80 listings, a mix of houses, baches and sections.
Vieviorka, who made the move to the peninsula himself in January 2025, says he expects buyers might still be able to snaffle a bargain until mid-2026.
He paid $610,000 for a 114sqm, three-bedroom, one-bathroom house with a nice view and a good deck. Next door to him just sold for $530,000 – a new but compact three-bedder, with two bathrooms.
Section prices currently hover around $170,000 for “something a bit nicer” but some of the steeper sites have sold for as little as $100,000, and another for $99,000.
Maitai Bay on the Karikari Peninsula. Photo / David Kirkland
“There are some good sections, and they’re a real hard sell at the moment, so it is a buyers’ market in the north in general and out there [on the peninsula] as well.”
He said enquiry had picked up lately, and summer would be a good indicator. Among his current listings are a two-bedroom “beachy bach” at 5 Doubtless Bay Drive, in Karikari, and a 3ha lifestyle block for $510,000 at 1710 Kohumaru Road, in Peria.
“We always see a little bit of pick up in summer just because we see so many people come up to the north and the peninsula, but I’m thinking the market is really not going to shift until next year,” he told OneRoof.
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“The interest rates coming back have been helping, but there’s still just not a lot of buyer confidence, and there are so many listings.
“I just think everyone’s been doing it a bit hard, so people don’t have as much spare cash to spend, and a lot of our buyers come from Auckland, so if the Auckland market is a bit tight and they’re not getting as good a price for their houses, well then, they don’t come up and buy.”
It takes about four-and-a-half hours to drive from Auckland to the Karikari Peninsula, where the median house price is $647,000.
For $700,000, Vieviorka said a buyer could get “something quite nice” – a house with three bedrooms and possibly two bathrooms.
Nearby Coopers Beach and Cable Bay Beach had been a magnet for retirees and Aucklanders, Vieviorka said.
Vieviorka recently sold this three-bedroom home in Cable Bay, in the Far North, for $890,000. Photo / Supplied
“Definitely, Coopers Beach is more popular, always has been. It’s developed more because it’s handier to all the amenities. It’s just been a bit more popular because it’s a bit easier to get to Kerikeri, a bit easier to get to Kaitaia, and there are a few more shops there.”
Nearby Mangōnui has cafes and a boat ramp, whereas at the peninsula, boaties have to launch off the beach. “But I think people are starting to realise one of the things about the peninsula is you have all the beaches handy,” Vieviorka said.
Visitors were spoilt for choice with the sweeping Tokerau Beach overlooking Doubtless Bay, Matai Bay, Karikari Beach and Rangiputa Beach all on hand.
Meanwhile, a lifestyle block of about 5000sqm, close to the coast and with a three-bedroom house, could go for around $750,000. “I just sold one in Taipa, close to the village ... a few minutes down to Taipa Beach. That was only six hectares,” Vieviorka said.
“It had a house on it – three bedrooms, and it had an unconsented three-bedroom unit as well, self-contained. Didn’t have sea views from the main house, but there was another building site that had sea views – you could see Doubtless Bay – mainly covered in Pine Trees. That just sold for $745,000.”
The diverse Far North, with its remote, backwater lifestyle blocks without power to white sand beaches with magnificent views across the South Pacific Ocean in the east and the Tasman Sea in the west, created a property market with a range of prices.
Inland, at Kaingaroa, a five-hectare lifestyle block with an older house, a unit and a shed recently sold for $480,000 while the median house price in Kaitaia was about $400,000.
Vieviorka said while the district attracted holidaymakers as well as retirees relocating permanently for the warm climate, there was also buyer interest from expat Kiwis returning home from Australia.
“We’ve seen a few buyers from Christchurch too lately, coming up.”
The Far North encompasses the beautiful Bay of Islands in the south up to Cape Reinga in the north, and dozens of stunning beaches and bays in between, as well as the small hubs of Kaikohe and Kaitaia and the main centre of Kerikeri.
“The main attractions are the beaches, the fishing and diving, and the hunting,” Vieviorka said.
“If you’re into walking, there are trails and native bush. I think a lot of people move north for the lifestyle.”
- Click here to find more properties for sale in the Far North
