HOME FORTHE
After the arrival of Covid and closure of international borders, Kiwis headed to the beach and went on a property-buying spree. CATHERINE MASTERS examines the state of New Zealand’s bach market
COASTAL COMMUNITIES up and down the country are changing shape with Covid speeding up people’s decisions to either move to the beach or buy a holiday home to escape to. The virus has led to shifting patterns of residency with agents reporting instead of the traditional heading off to the bach from town on a Friday night there’s a growing trend of people opting to live at the bach and commute to the office. Analysis of New Zealand’s bach market by Oneroof and its data partner Valocity found an explosion in second home purchases in coastal locations in the months after the first Covid lockdown, with more than 6000 snapped up by Kiwis eager to be close to the beach and the water.
The boom in sales came hand in hand with a boom in beach town property values, with house prices in some of the more popular locations rising by more than $500,000 post-covid.
James Wilson, head of valuations at Valocity, says the data and analysis shows just how hot many of NZ’S coastal markets were after the initial Covid lockdown.
“Many homeowners were able to utilise equity from their main home to leverage the purchase of a second home/holiday home. A low interest rate environment also helped fuel demand,” he says.
Wilson adds: “The ‘sea change’ was not just a Kiwi thing; this phenomenon was also observed internationally as the desire to live and work from coastal locations grew, supported by increasing work from home flexibility offered by many employers.
“Interestingly, whilst sales activity has slowed significantly in many coastal locations, we are not seeing signs of significant downward pressure on value levels, headwinds are not yet strong enough to push them down.
“Anecdotally, we are hearing of increased interest levels during early spring, and we will be watching closely to see whether this interest correlates to stronger value levels as we move towards summer months.”
LOCKDOWN EFFECT
Agents spoken to by Oneroof repeatedly talked of people taking stock of their lives over the last couple of years and taking advantage of the new work from home freedoms, setting up an office at the bach.
A consequence has been standards lifted in what were once purely holiday homes – older style Kiwiana baches made of patched-together corrugated iron painted bright colours are hard to find these days.
Other big buyers of holiday homes have been older people who hated being locked down away from their families so much they sold up and bought a place at the beach within easy reach of children and grandchildren.
Even grandparents living in idyllic holiday spots like the Bay of
Islands have moved to coastal locations further south to be near family, determined not to repeat the isolation they felt during lockdowns.
Agents also report the big demand they have seen over the last few years at some holiday spots has meant buying at the beach is not necessarily a cheaper option anymore.
Just to buy a basic two or three-bedroom holiday home back from the beach has hit the $1m-plus mark in places like Cooks Beach on the Coromandel Peninsula and that won’t have sea views. Beachfront there, as in many coastal locations, is now instantly in the millions.
For most people, being able to drive to their holiday home within a couple of hours is still a big must. For Cantabrians that might be Akaroa; for Aucklanders it’s traditionally been the Coromandel Peninsula or north of the city to places like Omaha and Mangawhai.
With Omaha becoming the domain of the uber-wealthy (beachfront there can cost $7m-plus), Aucklanders have pushed further north to Mangawhai which in turn has morphed from purely a holiday spot to a bustling town with subdivisions and employment.
A result has been people searching further up the coast in locations like Waipu and Ruakaka in Bream Bay – and Ruakaka is booming, says Joanne Dews, of Bream Bay Realty.
She thinks the once sleepy beach community is probably the fastestgrowing coastal location north of Auckland. “People have been buying up baches left, right and centre. We have waiting lists for people that are looking for the right property for them.”
The settlement, which boasts both a surf beach and an inner harbour beach, is about 130km north of Auckland and 30km south of Whangarei.
LONG WAITING LIST
“PEOPLE HAVE BEEN BUYING UP BACHES LEFT, RIGHT AND CENTRE. WE HAVE WAITING LISTS FOR PEOPLE THAT ARE LOOKING FOR THE RIGHT PROPERTY FOR THEM.”
– JOANNE DEWS, BREAM BAY REALTY
Dewson says while Aucklanders are the biggest buyers, she’s also seen people coming down from the Bay of Islands and up and across from Waiheke Island.
People from further north like to be closer to Auckland and its amenities, and people from Waiheke like the nostalgic vibe.
“They feel Waiheke’s outgrown them. It’s got so very busy and (Ruakaka) reminds them of Waiheke funnily enough.”