- A blue cottage in Christchurch’s New Brighton sold for $520,000, attracting 250 people at open homes.
- Ray White agent Ricky Cave noted high interest from first-home buyers for two- and three-bedroom homes.
- New Brighton is experiencing a resurgence with infrastructure projects and developments like The Rocks in Southshore.
A blue cottage in Christchurch’s up-and-coming beach suburb has sold for $520,000 after agents reported being overwhelmed by crowds at open homes for the property.
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Ray White agent Ricky Cave, who is part of Team Holly Jones, said classic two- and three-bedroom homes in New Brighton were popular with first-home buyers.
Team Holly Jones' Blake Street house had 120 groups at the first open home – the busiest the New Brighton agency has had in its 30 years. Cave said they had 250 people through the cottage in total.
The cute cottage was a magnet for first-home buyers wanting to be near the beach. Photo / Supplied
“Ninety-five per cent of them were first-home buyers. There were lots of locals and lots of people who just loved cottages – there’s a real following for that old classic cottage style.”
The successful buyer was a downsizer who was moving a few suburbs over.
“I don’t think there’s any other suburb in Christchurch where you can get a nice home close to the beach on a piece of land in the $500,000s. I think that’s why there was so much interest. There’s literally nowhere else you can buy that.”
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A lot of New Brighton’s entry-level homes, such as Blake Road property, had RVs in the $400,000s and were selling in the $500,000s, Cave said.
A similar two-bedroom house at 94 Bowhill Road, at the other end of New Brighton, had attracted similar attention.
The property, which has an RV of $475,000, had only been on the market for 14 days. The deadline was brought forward this week and 12 offers were made. The property is now under offer with a price well above its RV. “People are coming through just loving it. We’ve had so many offers on it,” Cave said.
The deadline for a two-bedroom home on Bowhill Road, in New Brighton, has been brought forward a week after intense interest. Photo / Supplied
“If we had 1000 of these houses today, we could sell them all in the next couple of weeks. They are our busiest listings at the moment. These cute, affordable two- and three-beddies.”
New Brighton is in the middle of a long-awaited resurgence. The suburb has for years been touted as Christchurch’s next best thing, but only recently have people turned up to spend money on infrastructure and new projects.
Cave and partner Holly Jones were among those investing in the area.
The pair recently purchased an “as is, where is” building on Caspian Street, in South New Brighton, and are in the process of transforming it into a commercial precinct.
The housing market in New Brighton has picked up over the last few months on the back of first-home buyer demand. Photo / George Heard
The Rocks, a new commercial precinct on Southshore, is one of several developments underway in New Brighton. Photo / Supplied
Prominent hospitality operator Troy Bilbrough, of Bacon Brothers, has already signed up as the lead tenant for The Rocks in Southshore, and the couple are busily looking for three retailers to take the other spots. Bilbrough, a Brighton local, missed out on buying the property at auction but was later approached by Jones and Cave to run his new family-friendly restaurant South Beach Beer Garden, which will serve food such as ice creams, coffee and woodfired pizza.
The New Brighton Mall is also finally getting a much-needed revamp, while the extremely popular hot pools like He Puna Taimoana, which opened in 2020, were also drawing punters in.
Christchurch City Council has also undertaken significant projects in the area , such as the City to Sea Pathway, Marine Parade, and the New Brighton Beachside Playground. Earlier this month, it announced $4.2m had been set aside to upgrade the pedestrian mall and invited feedback on the proposal.
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