- Properties under $500,000 can still be found in coastal areas, though often in isolated or non-traditional bach locations.
- Valocity identified 62 suburbs where over 50% of homes are valued under $500,000, with Westport and Waitara having the most affordable options.
- Auckland's Rakino Island has 31% of homes under $500,000, but it's a challenging commute.
Dotted around New Zealand are beachy locations where, believe it or not, properties can still sell for under half a million dollars.
Start your property search
At these prices, you may be able to pick up something a bit quirky or a bit isolated. The property might not be in a traditional bach town, but could be in a little settlement where a substantial number of properties have an estimated value of up to $500,000.
But some parts of New Zealand do still offer a more traditional bach vibe for affordable dollars.
OneRoof’s data partner, Valocity, crunched the numbers and found 361 suburbs with 50 or more residential properties within 800m of the coast - the caveat is some of these areas don’t fit the traditional definition of a Kiwi beach town.
Some were more semi-urban settlements, but they did still offer residents a decent stretch of sand and water.
Of the 361 suburbs analysed, Valocity identified 62 where more than 50% of the homes had an estimated value less than $500,000, with suburbs and towns on the West Coast of the South Island, Northland and Gisborne dominating the list.
Westport, in Buller, and Waitara, in Taranaki, were the best bets on sheer numbers, with both locations boasting more than 1000 affordable homes. Finding a beach home for less than $500,000 in Auckland was difficult, although not impossible.
The research found five beach suburbs in Auckland where 10% or more of the homes had a value of less than $500,000.
However, the one with the most was an island - Rakino Island in the Hauraki Gulf had 31% of its stock valued at less than $500,000, but as Valocity senior research analyst Wayne Shum said, the island is a hell of a commute.
Discover more:
- Tiny town where houses cost less than $200,000 and everyone is welcome
- Brad Pitt's West Auckland crib has finally sold - but who's the buyer?
- Wanaka couple buy decrepit bach for $335,000 as crowds descend on Great Barrier
OneRoof wrote about Rakino at the start of the year, with agents saying interest in the island to the north-west of Waiheke had noticeably picked up.
Notably absent from the list were other popular beach locations, such as Waiheke Island, which had only 31 properties with an estimated value under $500,000.
Some of those were in Palm Beach, where prices can be in the millions, but Shum says the much cheaper baches would likely be up the hill in the bush and were hard to see on aerial photos.
“It's not the waterfront - that's still primo - but once you start going up Hill Road and Palm Road, they don't get sea view because of the nature of the contour, and they're on a 45-degree slope.
“There’s a difference between being next to the beach and whether you can see the beach.”
In the wealthy beach town of Omaha there were no properties under $500,000, nor were there any in pricey Langs Beach, which is along from Waipu Cove. Russell in the Far North had just four, and the Coromandel hotspots of Pauanui, Whangamata and Whitianga had 144 between them, just not in the prized spots.
Omaha is a no-go zone for budget buyers, with none of the beach town's properties valued at less than $500,000. The average property value in the wealthy enclave is over $3m. Photo / Fiona Goodall
In the South Island, Christchurch's favourite bach town, Akaroa, had a mere 5% of homes worth less than $500,000.
Shum said some of the places that showed up are simply naturally cheaper areas, which happen to be by the ocean but which are a long way from anywhere else.
Traditional cheap baches are a bit of a misnomer these days in a world of holiday homes, he said: “You're not going to convince your kid these days to use a long drop.
“These days baches are not really baches; they are four-bedroom houses that you would easily find in a regular suburb except that it's next to the ocean - plumbing, Wi-Fi, broadband, possibly mains water even.”
Some of the old baches would never pass today’s building code, he added.
In the Bay of Plenty, places like Omaio, Te Kaha, Toatoa and Torere along the East Coast are home to numerous properties estimated to be valued under $500,000 but Harcourts Opotiki principal Wendy Moore said these represented small settlements along the coastline rather than holiday home areas.
Valocity senior research analyst Wayne Shum: These days baches are not really baches; they are four-bedroom houses that you would easily find in a regular suburb except that it's next to the ocean." Photo / Fiona Goodall
“A lot of it is rocky shore. Te Kaha is a popular one. I mean, they’re all just little villages along the way. Te Kaha is sort of the biggest centre and then Waihau Bay which is a bit further.”
The market was niche in that most people had local knowledge or a connection to the area.
“We have the odd property at Waiotahe Beach Estate, a 20-plus year-old beachside subdivision where restrictive covenants have never been enforced and therefore cabins, pods and camping are common. This area is just 3 to 4km West of Opotiki.”
Under $500,000 included sections, and at the time of writing Harcourts had a property on the market at Waiotahe, which had two transportable dwellings plus a container with solar power, a shower and a toilet.
Foxton Beach in Manawatu-Whanganui has nearly 40% of its housing stock estimated at $500,000 or less, or nearly 600 properties.
The beach area, which is just out of Foxton township, is a mix of permanent residents and baches with Nigel van der Schouw, from OneAgency Horowhenua, offering a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home for enquiries over $449,000.
A three-bedroom "beach hideaway" for sale at 26 Hall Place, Foxton Beach. It is looking for over $449,000. Photo / Supplied
The 1960s bach was near the Manawatu River and estuary, van der Schouw said, and not far from the “famous-in-Foxton-Beach” Mr Grumpy’s takeaways.
Foxton Beach had its own river and patrolled beach and while his listing was a walk away from the beach, he said baches still sometimes sold by the ocean in the $400,000s.
The area was an old-fashioned bach suburb but was slowly changing, especially with the Expressway coming from Wellington giving faster access.
“But there are still some real Kiwiana baches that are just basic baches on big sections. Some of them are obviously getting subdivided now with the land values but you can buy a section for sort of $200,000-plus there, for a little half section, 400 square metres.”
The township of Foxton was only a five-minute drive with supermarkets and services, while Foxton Beach didn’t have much more than a Four Square, another dairy and fish and chip shops.
But that just meant people felt like they were on holiday: “You're not going there for shopping. You're gonna go there for fishing or go down the beach.”
Unlikely to sell for less than $500,000, but this unusual beachside home at 67 Hillview Road, in Birdlings Flat, comes with its own museum. Photo / Supplied
Rural Ashburton, in Canterbury, features on the list because of Wakanui beach – 89% of properties there were valued under $500,000 – but the beach is known as a no-swimming beach because of the undertow.
Another beach that can be a bit treacherous is at Birdlings Flat in Banks Peninsula, where most of the properties (85%) come in under $500,000, with not much for sale, but just because the beach might not be for swimming, the little settlement does get tourists.
Mike Stewart, of Ray White, reckons the spot is a beauty. He and colleague Kerryn Allen were marketing a property on Hillview Road and while it was price by negotiation and did not necessarily fall in the OneRoof range for this story, that was because the property involved a house and also a rock museum/shop.
Birdlings Flat is a tiny community and one of those areas where the town hall is probably the only community building, Stewart says: “There’s no shops or anything like that.”
He described his listing as having a standard New Zealand bach feel, but up in the turret-style master bedroom windows on all sides took in magnificent views of the beach one way, mountains another way, as well as lake views and plains.
“You can literally see all of the biomes you could imagine - lake, sea, mountains, plains. It’s so, so nice. You could go to sleep, not have to shut any curtains and then wake up to a really, really awesome scenic view.”
3 Kupe Street, in Carters Beach, Buller, is for sale with a price tag of $439,000. Photo / Supplied
The rock museum part of the listing attracted buses of tourists and was “the thing that puts Birdlings Flat on the map a little bit.”
The settlement itself was a mix of full-time residents and holiday homes and had nice walks and a bike track.
Stewart describes Birdlings Flat as having an isolated charm – and on top of that said people often went there to watch the Aurora Australis, or Southern Lights.
Over in Buller, while Westport might not scream beach town Ray White agent Martin Jack says just down the road is an undiscovered gem.
At the time of writing, he had a property in the community of Carters Beach on the market for $439,000, comprising two dwellings on one section. He was advertising it as “beachside, small section and income”.
Jack says Carters Beach is a seaside town with local tourism, a holiday camp and a cycleway.
“It's a nice seaside town; you've got a café, bar, restaurant there.”
Wesport is only a few minutes away for bigger shopping. The listing Jack had was used as a holiday rental and was booked out most of the year. While people in Auckland may not know of its existence, Jack says Carters Beach is a cracking spot.
“We're probably one of the most remote towns. There's only one way in and one way out. It's a bit of a microclimate. It's subtropical, winterless.”
4/4 Tohitapu Road, in Paihia, Far North, is for sale for $449,000. Photo / Supplied
People came to get away from it all there, and a lot of young families lived there because the pricing was good.
Nearby Cape Foulwind has a walkway, a seal colony and a lighthouse and was so named by James Cook in 1769 because of the strong winds.
At the other end of the country, Paihia in the Far North still boasts a few properties worth under $500,000, though few were on offer in the resort-style gateway to the Bay of Islands at the time of writing.
Mike Crosbie, of Raine & Horne, had a one-bedroom cottage for sale for $449,000 at Te Haumi, on the flat area before the hill into Paihia.
He said the price was reasonably unusual for Paihia these days, but the property was outside the main thoroughfare.
Sometimes apartments or holiday investment lets could go under $500,000 in the busy tourist centre, but they sometimes had a catch that people could not live in them permanently; rather, they could holiday in them, but a management company would let them out, and owners would derive an income.
The little home in Te Haumi was in a group of about 18 or 20 homes and close to the water, away from the madding crowd and could be used however the buyer wanted, he said.
It was a cross lease on a freehold site which meant there were no body corporate fees.
“It used to be freestanding apartments for a hotel. It's literally 50 metres from the beach. My grandsons learned to windsurf there - I used to live on the same road.”
The beach was “safe as” and Paihia shops was only two minutes over the hill.
Crosbie says Paihia is wonderful: “We went there for three weeks 40 years ago; we forgot to leave.”
In the Kaipara, settlements around the Harbour also feature in the under $500,000 list.
One of them is Tinopai, a picturesque little fishing village and home to Fiona Rouse of Ray White.
At the time of writing, she was selling a property in Sandy Beach Road, which had a CV of $460,000.
She says it’s much harder to get a property for under $500,000 these days, though the Valocity list showed 25% of homes there were estimated to be valued under that.
Rouse said she bought a holiday home in Tinopai several years ago and basically lived there now: “It's a gorgeous spot. It's undiscovered, which is nice.”
An “absolute assortment” of people lived there, with quite a few commuting for work to areas like Warkworth.
A lot of old families owned in Tinopai, with some properties being owned by the same family for generations, and others who buy into Tinopai don’t want to let the properties go, she says, stressing how good the fishing is.
Don’t expect to eat out, although Rouse says there is a food caravan that operates especially through the summer, but there’s no supermarket or shops.
“That's the joy of it. You've got to pack and come prepared.”
Rouse says Tinopai has a feel of old New Zealand: “It's almost like back before places like Omaha and that were discovered, real bachy fishing village kind of feel.
“There's a campground here which is always quite busy. It's surprising, actually, over summer you can look down over the beach - I did yesterday - and there must have been 100 people down there, swimming, kayaking.”
- Click here to find properties for sale
