Coromandel property riding Covid wave with average asking prices topping Auckland – صحيفة الصوت

Coromandel has overtaken Auckland as the second most expensive place to buy.

New data released by realestate.co.nz shows the popular holiday destination has an average asking price of $1.3 million – up 13.6% compared to last month.

While New Zealand as a whole has begun to see a gentle housing price decline, Realestate.co.nz spokesperson Vanessa Williams​ said Coromandel has overtaken Auckland – at $1.1 million.

Local agents believe the “insane” prices are being driven by more Aucklanders moving into the area permanently and a lack of housing stock and development – resulting in some beach front properties going for $6 million.

And it’s not likely to ease anytime soon.

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“Coromandel has hit a 15-year record high, overtaking Auckland as the second most expensive place to purchase property,” Williams said.

“But Central Otago/Lakes District still holds the number one spot at $1,428,349.”

This is compared with the national average asking price of $942,961 – up 4.2% against July 2021, but a decline from January’s $1 million asking price.

Coromandel’s North Real Estate agent John Hunt​ believes the region is still riding the Covid wave.

“Covid did big favours for Coromandel’s housing market,” Hunt said.

“It made a lot of Aucklanders realise they can move out of the city and actually be safe outside of their walls of Auckland.”

Having been a real estate agent in Thames-Coromandel for almost 25 years, Hunt has never seen such demand and interest from permanent residents.

Places such as Whitianga, Cooks Beach, Hahei, Whenuakite, Coroglen and Kūaotunu are proving most popular for Auckland buyers.

“I’ve always said Coromandel, and Whitianga especially, is the Queenstown of the North Island and it’s certainly going that way.

“We’ve been number two on trip advisor for a number of years behind Queenstown.

“We are only two hours from the main centres, and we have an airport with an airline establishing itself, so it’s not slowing down anytime soon.”

While house prices along the peninsula aren’t expected to decrease anytime soon, the rate that they are selling has slowed down, Hunt said.

Houses in high demand areas such as Whitianga a year ago would have sold within a few days to a week, but now it’s not uncommon for properties to stay on the market for months.

This isn’t due to a lack of interest, but because properties in Tauranga, Hamilton and Auckland are taking longer to sell, he said.

Harcourts Pauanui and Whangamatā agent Alyce Rowe​, however, believes the average price had been boosted by a number of “insane” beach house sales recently.

In July, she said a property on the beach front of Whangamatā had sold for about $6.6 million and another in Paunanui had sold for $5.1 million.

This is on top of a number of waterway and canal sales too – starting at $3 million.

“That’s incredible, but beach front properties don’t come to market very often, so if you get a few sales like that that brings up the average price quite a lot,” Rowe said.

The shortage in housing stock along the Coromandel was also driving up prices, she said.

Realestate.co.nz data shows 274 houses were built in Coromandel last year compared to Auckland’s 10,626 and Waikato’s 2,200.

“The demand in property is higher than the stock we have and that’s because development is really difficult.”