- Families are quickly buying properties in Hamilton’s Rototuna, Flagstaff, and Huntington suburbs.
- Three- and four-bedroom homes priced between $1m and $1.2m are highly sought after.
- Agents attribute demand to location, community appeal, and a recent shortage of listings.
Well-priced properties in what agents are calling Hamilton’s “sweet spot” are being “gobbled up” by families.
Start your property search
They told OneRoof that buyers are pouncing on properties in three specific suburbs: Rototuna, Flagstaff and Huntington.
Harcourts Hamilton auctioneer Mark McGoldrick said three- and four-bedroom family homes in the early $1ms were attracting lots of bids right now.
“People are waiting to gobble them up. I would say two in every five buyers are looking in that category. You can have a beautiful character home in Hamilton East, and yes, that’s popular, but not as popular because people still see those northern suburbs as a safer bet.”
McGoldrick said that for many people, location was as important as the house.
A four-bedroom, two-bathroom home on Farringdon Drive, in Rototuna, sold after only 10 days on the market. Photo / Supplied
“I think it’s as much about community as it is about the bricks and mortar. Obviously, they are newer homes, and they’ve got that desirability, but it’s also just that nice, secure neighbourhood, and everyone looks after their houses. [Buyers] love the shops, there are lots of supermarkets and life is good.”
The properties being sold were anywhere between 15 and 35 years old and were sometimes a bit dated, but McGoldrick said buyers didn’t seem to mind. They were more focused on getting a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home, ideally made from brick, in the right location.
Just last week, the agency sold two Rototuna properties within two weeks of them hitting the market. One, a four-bedroom plaster-over-brick home in Oldfield Place, fetched $1.14m, and the other, a brick home in Farringdon Drive, got $1.12m.
A few weeks earlier, a four-bedroom house with a pool on Aquila Crescent, in Rototuna, sold under the hammer for $1.401m just 10 days after it hit the market.
Discover more:
- Councillors ignored independent valuation when buying house next door to zoo
- Elton John and KFC: The secret ingredients of a jaw-dropping Waikato ‘castle’
- Pimped-out shed in suburbia sells for close to $1m at heated auction
“What really adds to it and what people really love is a three-car garaging and if you have got a pool, you are styling,” McGoldrick told OneRoof.
Lodge agent Glenn Collins believes “school season” and a recent shortage of these types of listings were behind the lift in buyer activity.
“Pretty much nothing came to the market in that mid-December pocket right through to mid-January, so you get pent-up demand with buyers who all of a sudden need to make decisions.”
Collins said the most popular houses in these areas were priced between $1m and $1.2m and were attracting people looking to upgrade from other suburbs.
A 10-year-old brick-and-tile home at 3 Platina Place, in Flagstaff hits Hamilton’s sweet spot with an asking price of $1.195m. Photo / Supplied. Photo / Supplied
“It’s a very popular market. We are heading into school season, and it makes sense that people are looking at properties like that because they are good value for what they are.”
He said he had a four-bedroom brick home in Huntington under contract in the low-$1ms after four offers. “It ticked a lot of boxes for a lot of people.”
Collins’ colleague Blair Pointon said there was a lot of stock on the market, but also a lot of buyers looking.
His team sold a four-bedroom, two-bathroom property at Alconbury Drive, in Rototuna, under the hammer for $1.1825m last week, but he believed the sweetest spot was still first-home buyer properties priced under $750,000 in some of the cheaper suburbs. However, not everything was selling like hot cakes, he said, noting that the townhouse market was still relatively slow.
Lugtons’ River Road branch manager Grant Paterson has noticed an increase in enquiries for homes in the early $1ms. “We’ve been through a tough couple of years, and there’s far better optimism out there now.”
Paterson said homes with two living areas were almost a must for families, while those with pools tended to attract a lot of interest and a higher price.
“People are time-poor, and the thought of putting a pool in is always hard. So, a property that’s got a pool and a nice outdoor area is going to go well and sell for a bit more because it’s done and all ready to go.”
Patterson believed the $1m to $1.2m was also attractive to people, and he had two properties just listed for sale at 736 and 992 River Road that were attracting “outstanding” interest.
Bayleys agent Aman Bali said properties between $900,000 and $1.2m in Huntington, Flagstaff and Rototuna would sell quickly, provided vendors were realistic.
He noted that the 90s-era homes in these suburbs were all still liveable. “People like space more than anything. That’s what I always tell people. If they love the floor plan, if they love the size of the house, they can make changes.”
He’s currently selling three properties in Flagstaff with price indications of around $1m, including a three-bedroom home at 10 Anchor Close built in the 1990s, a four-bedroom home at 18 Gambia Grove built in the 2000s, and a four-bedroom residence at 3 Platina Place, which was built in the 2010s and has an asking price of $1.195m.
- Click here to find more properties for sale in Hamilton
