Taranaki’s surprising new housing hotspots
Taranaki’s small towns are experiencing a rush of new residents as home buyers flock to affordable areas amid the housing crisis price surge. Catherine Groenestein reports.
Zanita Taylor and her four children are some of Stratford’s newest residents and they could not be happier with their shift to the Taranaki town renowned for its Shakespearean street names and chilly climate.
The move to the inland town of 6000, about 40 kilometres from New Plymouth, came after months of fruitless searching for a home in Waitara, where Taylor works, and Inglewood where she lived.
Both New Plymouth satellite towns, along with Bell Block, have traditionally been considered an affordable option outside of the city for those hoping to get on to the first rung of the property ladder.
But with the housing crisis price boom, Bell Block and Inglewood have become the second or even the third rung, while prices in Waitara are accelerating away from what some may consider affordable, leading to the ‘‘cheap house’’ zone being pushed even further out from New Plymouth.
Towns like Stratford are suddenly appealing to buyers who would not have considered them an option just a year ago.
The maths of the move is persuasive. Figures from property data analysts CoreLogic for February 2021 show the median value in Inglewood was $462,600, in Bell Block it was $577,770, while in Waitara it was $375,650.
These values are up to 13 per cent greater than the year before and, while affordable when compared with New Plymouth’s median value of $579,118, it is increasingly out of reach for first home buyers. But those prepared to move to South Taranaki or Stratford have a greater chance of finding a house for less.
In Stratford the median value for the district was $378,550, while further south in Eltham it was $290,550, Ha¯ wera had $393,400 and Opunake was at $350,000.
While median values do not capture the highest and lowest prices in a town, they are seen as a reliable indicator of the typical property value within an area.
Taylor paid $300,000 for her renovated three-bedroom 1915 villa tucked between commercial buildings in Stratford.
Although the front yard is paved with gravel, there is also a sunny enclosed back lawn, and the property is close to a supermarket, shopping centre, parks and the swimming pool.
For Taylor (of Nga¯ ti Porou) the move to Stratford puts her further from her workplace but it also means she could afford to buy her own home, ending the uncertainty inherent in renting and giving her a chance to change her family’s attitude to home ownership.
‘‘It was not something that we strove to do in life – you just rent, just keep going to work. But now I am a good role model for my children, hopefully this will encourage them to buy their own homes in future,’’ she says.
At present, she has been dropping the children at school and daycare in Inglewood on the way to her job in Waitara as a kaitautoko (support worker) with the Maori Women’s Welfare League. But she plans to move them to Stratford schools in time.
‘‘There is a lot more in the community here for them to do and places to explore, it is a bit bigger,’’ she says.
‘‘I have heard about swimming holes and I can’t wait to find all the spots.’’
Danny Bates says he has never seen Stratford so busy in his 12 years as central and south Taranaki sales manager for McDonald Real Estate.
There are sold signs on more than half the listings in the windows of the company’s Broadway office. The town is attracting buyers who cannot afford a first home in a bigger centre, or who are downsizing from another area and ending up with a good amount of change from selling elsewhere, he says.
A change in mindset in recent years mean the 39.5km distance from New Plymouth is no longer seen as an obstacle.
‘‘While the distance from New Plymouth has not changed and the time to drive there has not changed, we used to be seen as a long way from the city but now it is not a long way from the city.
‘‘We’re seeing a lot of families where mum works in New Plymouth and dad works in
Ha¯ wera, and the children go to school in Stratford.’’
There is still a good range of differently priced properties available in the town, unlike New Plymouth where even lower priced properties are beyond the reach of first home buyers.
‘‘We have houses being bought for $700,000, and we are still seeing good three-bedroom houses for around $330,000, there is a good range of properties,’’ Bates says.
‘‘We are still seeing a great diversity of buyers, still seeing a lot of first-time buyers who can’t quite manage it in New Plymouth, and people coming home after living elsewhere in New Zealand.’’
There are multiple subdivisions under way and the Stratford District Council’s project just sold 32 sections in 12 months.
Taranaki ambassador for the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand Garry Malcolm says the situation is similar outside other regional cities.
Towns considered by locals as ‘‘too far’’ from the main centres are seen in a differently light by buyers from Auckland or Wellington, who may be used to a commuting
lifestyle. ‘‘For us, it seems a long way but for anyone who has been in a big city, it is nothing,’’ Malcolm says.
‘‘If you come from Auckland, the time to travel to New Plymouth is like going to another suburb in Auckland but the traffic is free flowing.’’
Waitara, 15 minutes north of New Plymouth, is another town experiencing a surge in popularity as people search out affordable property.
After years of price stagnation, property prices have exploded in the seaside town but it is still one of the most affordable places to buy in the New Plymouth district.
When Harcourts Waitara sales agent Heleena Simpson started her job a decade ago, there were plenty of houses listed for sale.
‘‘I picked up my first home for $82,000. That would be worth $450,000 now. It is just insane.
‘‘Some prices are above and beyond what any local would have thought we would achieve once upon a time.’’
But buyers can still pick up a three-bedroom first home for close to $400,000 or just over in some cases, she says.
The last house she sold to a first home buyer went to somebody who had intended to buy in Bell Block.
‘‘He had been looking for over a year,’’ she said.
‘‘Waitara has everything you want without having to go to the city. The community is great here, it is friendly and people are approachable. It is just a nice community,’’ Simpson says.
Demand for properties on the other side of New Plymouth, at the rural village of Okato, is also going through the roof as buyers look for homes they can afford, says Bayleys rural sales consultant John Blundell.
Okato, population 600, has a grocery store, a year 1-13 school and is near a number of Taranaki’s famous surf breaks.
Homes and sections around the township itself – 20 minutes drive from the southern edge of New Plymouth – are popular with younger buyers, while sections further afield are being snapped up by professionals and people looking for lifestyle living, often moving to Taranaki from elsewhere.
‘‘Before Covid it was more affordable but since there has been an influx of people from places including Auckland, Wellington, Tauranga and even Raglan,’’ Blundell said.
First home buyers can still find a house in the township for less than they would pay in nearby Oakura or New Plymouth but prices are probably on par with Inglewood, he says.
‘‘Covid has given the area a boost really.
‘‘People are willing to go to places they haven’t before. Places that were declining. It is quite nice.
‘‘Places like Pungarehu are getting more houses.’’