There are not many places in New Zealand that can boast a73 per cent annual increase in the median house price.
Yet Real Estate Institute of New Zealand figures forOctober reveal that is the case for the central North Island town of Taihape.
The trend of rising prices in the regions is nothing new,and latest REINZ figures show it continues. While the Auckland median fell 3.2per cent year-on-year, outside of our largest city prices rose 8.5 per cent.
But as things went stellar in Taihape’s neighbouringprovinces such as Waikato to the north and Manawatu in the south, nothing muchwas happening in the green Rangitikei valleys straddling State Highway One.
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That’s all changing. The median price in the widerRangitikei District rose 29 per cent to $207,000 in the year to October, and asteady stream of buyers from Auckland and other regions is helping drive themarket. Taihape, population 1700, now even has an Indian community – of two.
Harpreet Singh Kahlon is happy to be known by his Taihapename of Harry and is even prouder to call the pretty rural services centrehome. He moved there from Auckland six months ago to work for the new owners ofthe local Four Square store.
That in itself is a revolution: The business had been ownedby the same family for 100 years until Aucklanders Ross Westgate and JanineMaru bought it earlier this year. Knowing it could be hard to find staff inTaihape the couple persuaded Kahlon to come with them.
“When Ross and Janine told me about Taihape I’d never beento that place,” he says. “I said, ‘that’s fine but I want to see the area first’.
A look at the scenery was enough to convince him, and thehardest adjustment has been getting used to the food, he says. It doesn’tbother him that the chef at the café across the road is the only other of hiscountrymen within miles. Instead he’s been blown away by the friendliness ofTaihapians, who’ve adopted him as a bit of a local celebrity.
“When I first went there nobody knew me, and still theywere greeting me whenever they saw me walking down the street,” he says.
Westgate and Maru had both grown up in small towns, he inTe Awamutu and she in nearby Raetihi. After years working in Auckland theydecided it was time to be their own bosses and to give their two children thekind of upbringing they’d had. For the price of their Auckland house they havebought a home, commercial property and business in the Rangitikei town.
Their cost of living has gone down, they have outdooractivities such as the region’s renowned trout fishing on their doorstep, andno two days are the same running the local supermarket, Westgate says. “I’m notsure why people think they should stay in Auckland.”
Local Harcourts agent Deborah Moon gets regular inquiriesfrom outside the district, and increased competition in the real estateindustry has also stimulated the market as previously there had only been oneagency in town, she says.
An ex-Aucklander herself, Moon still can’t believe thevalue for money in Taihape.
“There are some lovely character villas. If you get theright one you get stunning views,” she says. “If you can buy a do-up down herethat’s sound, you can make really good money on it.”
The top end of themarket for a villa on a town section would be $350,000, while it’s possible tobuy a basic house for $150,000. “First home buyers should be running here intheir droves,” she says.
