Buyers with $3 million to $4 million to spend on a beach front property in popular Coromandel holiday spots like Whangamata and Whitianga are hounding real estate agents for places to buy.
Reuben van Dorsten, whose Ray White offices in the two beach towns covers the Peninsula from Matarangi through Pauanui and Tairua says that records are being broken.
“Anything high value, on the beach front is being sought after. People are saying ‘if anything comes up, you tell me first. It doesn’t matter what the price is.'
“They just want to be on the beachfront,” he says.
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A crowd of 150 people spilled out the door at Ray White Whangamata auction at Labour Weekend. Photo / Supplied
Van Dorsten expects that with deals in play but not settled, last summer’s record sale of over $4.25 million will be broken this summer, and that “the longer we go like this, the higher the expectation of what people are going to pay.”
At a Labour Weekend auction, his Ray White Whangamata office had an estimated 150 buyers spilling out the doors, with buyers paying $1.24 million for a less-than-ten-year-old house a block from the beach – well above its expected $940,000 to $980,000. On another property, buyers registered to bid after viewing the bach for less than a minute.
However, the fast-moving pre-Christmas market has impacted holiday fortnight sales, van Dorsten says, as there is now a lack of stock.
“If people couldn’t be in by Christmas then there is a bit of a slowdown. But we’re now seeing an increase in page views as people start to think ‘I can have a crack at getting a place here.’”
Harcourts business owner Paul Prouse, who has offices all up the east coast and Coromandel town, sees a huge level of interest, but listing at about half their normal summer level.
211A Barrowclough Road, in Whangamata, sold for $1.24 million under the hammer. Photo / Supplied
“Right now, there are about 40 properties for sale, compared to 80 or 90 we usually have at this time of year. Some years it’s up to 120 or 130.”
“I have seven or eight people itching to buy anything over $2 million plus – that's one or two back from the beach, with a really nice view. Beachfront is $3.5 million for a do-up.
“In Whangamata, land is in short supply, so people are buying older properties to bowl and build. You're looking at $800,000 for a half site with a little house, way back from the beach.”
Prouse says even in the usually quieter neighbouring beach towns of Onemana and Whiritoa there are multiple offers and beach front places selling for $2 million, while properties on Pauanui Waterways are fetching over $3 million.
All the agents in the holiday town report that closed lawyers’, valuers’ and council offices also slow things down for the holiday fortnight.
The lack of built baches – or full-blown houses – stock has meant a huge surge in sales of sections.
After five years on the market, only three out of 163 lots at Longreach Cooks Beach remain unsold, with 30 alone selling in the last five months. Photo / Supplied
Richardsons agent Paulette Tainsh who is marketing the new Longreach development at Cooks Beach, close to the boat ramp, says that she is flat out with a lot of buyers and very few properties.
She says that the titles for stage three of the subdivision, which has been on the market since 2015, were issued just before Christmas.
“People are keen and quick off the mark, they’ve got plans done so quite a few consents already. This is it for a while for Cooks Beach – there are only about 1200 properties for a summer population that grows to about 7000 or 8000.”
Longreach development company, Wintons, reports that of the 163 lots, only three are left – with 30 selling in the last five months alone.
Up the coast at Matarangi, the company’s Beach development between Whangapoua Harbour and the Dunes Golf Resort, has sold 71 out of 76 lots, nearly all of them in the last five months. A new December release saw six sales in the first two weeks.
Mark Hall, Director Beach Realty, said, “We have never seen sales like this. We signed up five sales in one day, it’s super-heated at the moment.”
Hall says that entry level price of $305,000 make Matarangi affordable compared to the rest of the Coromandel Peninsula, although most sales are around $600,000. But he says he could now get another $100,000 more for properties he sold for that price earlier in the year.
Richardsons Matarangi agents Peter Sharp and Keith Goodall say that buyers were “just jumping on everything”.
“Stock levels are very low, so we’re getting instant attention – offers the same day, some were even buying sight unseen in December,” says Goodall.
“We’ve had places we thought might get $800,000 climbing past $900,000,” adding there were recent sales of $1.2 million and over $2 million.
Bayleys Coromandel managing director Mary Walker says that all the beach towns are really busy with “a few offers floating around.” Bayleys Whitianga agents Bev Calder and Sheree Henderson set the town record of $3 million at the December auction of 37 Buffalo Beach Road, on the waterfront.
“It’s across the board, a lot of people just thinking ‘what’s going to happen for the year’ after a lot of uncertainty this year, the weather’s been absolutely fabulous.”
