- Tokoroa first-home buyers captured 36% of sales, well above the 28% national average.
- Affordable homes and improved roads attract buyers priced out of Hamilton and Rotorua.
- Agents reject Tokoroa’s gang-town reputation, describing a friendly community with homes averaging $418,000.
It has a bad rap, but Tokoroa is cheap and cheerful and has become a magnet for those trying to break into the housing market.
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More than one in three homes sold in the South Waikato timber town were snapped up by first-home buyers in the first half of this year, according to property analysis firm Cotality.
First-home buyers captured 36% of Tokoroa's market this year, well above the already elevated national average of 28% and up five percentage points on 2024.
Agents told OneRoof that Tokoroa was often the only part of the South Waikato within reach for local buyers, with entry-level homes starting at about $200,000 and properties priced above $600,000 considered top-end.
According to OneRoof data, the town's average property value is $418,000, $63,000 lower than it was at the height of the market, and about half the cost of a typical home in Hamilton.
Harcourts Tokoroa business owner Ben Johnson described Tokoroa as a bit of a “bubble”.
Tokoroa has been through the mill in recent years, but it has also become a magnet for first-home buyers. Photo / Getty Images
Looking for enquiries over $365,000 is 80 Arthur Street, in Tokoroa. Photo / Supplied
A freshly renovated home at 30A Arthur Street is for sale for $479,000. Photo / Supplied
“You go north and south, the price goes up. It’s not far from any of the new centres really, and with the new roading infrastructure to Hamilton, it’s not far anymore.”
He said in the last few years it had become a lot easier for people who worked in cities such as Hamilton or Rotorua to buy a house in Tokoroa. Residents could split their time between working from home and commuting into the office a couple of days a week.
For some of the buyers he was working with, it was the only way they could afford to get on the property ladder because they could pick up something from about $350,000.
One such property in that price bracket is a three-bedroom home at 80 Arthur Street, which Johnson and his colleague Barb McMullen have listed for enquiries over $365,000.
Johnson also has a freshly renovated three-bedroom home at 30A Arthur Street for sale for $479,000.
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“[Tokoroa] is a win-win for them, really. Otherwise, if they are living in those centres where they are working [Hamilton, Rotorua, or Taupō], they are not able to afford a house, and they are just in a rental and struggling to get a deposit.”
The town had been hit hard economically, with two plant closures last year resulting in 249 job losses, and mainstream perceptions of Tokoroa as a gang town didn't help.
Johnson said the latter point was unfair. “Probably my biggest gripe I ever have is that a lot of people get put off by people going ‘don’t come to Tokoroa, it’s full of gangs and stuff’, which is so not true.”
He said the town - known by locals as "Toke" or "Tok Town" - was friendly and had plenty of schooling and sport options.
He recently bumped into a client who had initially been sceptical about moving to Tokoroa because of what other people outside the town had told her. “She said she looks back now and wonders why she didn’t do it years ago. She says she absolutely loves it.”
Tokoroa Christmas Parade in 2024. Agents say the town is friendly and affordable. Photos / John Van De Ven
More than 200 workers lost their jobs last year as a result of plant closures in Tokoroa. Photo / Mike Scott
Property Brokers agent Shon Meszaros has lived in the town for 45 years and said he had no plans to leave. “It’s got an interesting reputation, but it’s ill-deserved. It’s a friendly town, it’s a nice community, it’s sporting. I like it.”
It was also a “very, very affordable destination”.
“Literally what you pay for a house here, you couldn’t buy a mailbox in Manukau for the same money.”
He added: “If a first-home buyer is looking, they should really look now. I’d say the purple patch is now, before the election, I think. What happened last time – post-election – two or three months after, it just took off. Investors came back in droves, and it made it harder for these first-home buyers.”
He said first-home buyers were often bypassing the town’s cheapest properties and opting for ones under $500,000 where all the hard work had been done.
He has two properties that fit that description: a two-bedroom home with a separate self-contained studio at 15 Baberton Street, which is inviting buyer enquiries over $395,000; and a three-bedroom home at 51 Tainui Street, which has a price indication of between $380,000 and $400,000.
15 Baberton Street, Tokoroa, has been pitched at first-home buyers. Photo / Supplied
First-home buyers flocked to a property on Philip Street, which went under contract within one week of hitting the market. Photo / Supplied
Ray White agent Michelle Lamberton agreed that the sweet spot in the market seemed to be tidy, low-maintenance homes priced between $450,000 and $500,000.
She recently sold a three-bedroom home on Philip Street, which drew huge interest from first-home buyers and went under contract within a week of hitting the market.
Lamberton had noticed an uptick in interest from out-of-town buyers.
She recently sold a home to a doctor who was moving to Tokoroa and another to an Australia-based buyer who plans to return to New Zealand to live next year. She had dealt with several first-time buyers from Wellington.
Lamberton said: “Over the last four weeks in particular, we have seen the market pick up across the board, which is really positive. Our office has seen seven properties go unconditional last week and another three this week.”
- Click here for more properties for sale in Tokoroa
