Boom times for a secret of the south
Visitors put down roots in one of our most popular tourist spots, Hannah McLeod reports.
Te Anau has been a favoured holiday spot for Southlanders for decades.
Whether they stay on a boat or in a bach, or both, families have chosen the Fiordland town as their home away from home in the holiday season.
It’s an increasingly popular destination for tourists too, as the gateway to Milford Sound and the Great Walks.
Local business owners have noticed the summer busy seasons lasting longer, shorter shoulder-seasons, and the winter off-season not being quite so slow as visitors to Queenstown for skiing choose to extend their holidays further south.
But a recent boom in property sales could mean an increase in permanent population.
Experts say people are choosing to both invest and move to the town, which could result in change for the quintessential holiday location.
As Queenstown experiences recordbreaking median house prices amid the Southern Lakes housing shortage, homebuyers and investors are turning to Te Anau as an affordable alternative.
The lakeside tourist spot has seen demand for section sales increase significantly in 2016.
Section sales at The Delta, a threestage, 240-lot lakeside development, have taken off over the past few months, as buyers from around New Zealand – predominantly from Auckland, Queenstown and Southland – snap up sections sized from 600 square metres to 1600sqm.
Prices originally started at $56,000, but the remaining available sections were priced between $90,000 and $275,000.
The Delta developer Adam Fairmaid said six sites sold in 2015, but last year 39 had been snapped up by late November.
Ten of those sites sold in October, priced between $62,000 and $160,000.
Stage three of the development, including 20 lakefront sections, were expected to be on offer early this year.
‘‘We have had a lot of interest from buyers keen to live or invest in Te Anau,’’ Fairmaid said.
‘‘With the huge growth in tourism numbers in Te Anau – and the tourism industry’s expected growth – it’s very pleasing to see the market showing strong growth and demand.
‘‘As Queenstown and Wanaka become increasingly busier and development intensifies, New Zealanders are recognising that Te Anau is an idyllic location without the hustle and bustle and high prices increasingly characteristic of the Southern Lakes area.’’
It is not just section sales on the up either. The Southland District Council has issued 28 consents for new dwellings in the 2015-16 financial year – making it the busiest area in the district for dwelling consents.
Between August and October consents were issued.
In October, Southland district councillor Ebel Kremer said that although he was pleased with the growth of the community and the tourism in Te Anau, he had been approached by several business owners who were concerned about the lack of availability of rental homes for their staff. alone, 22