Quiet Kāwhia fetching big prices
An affordable ‘hidden gem’ says salesman
One of the best homes in Kāwhia has hit the market and will sell for almost half of what it would fetch if it were located in neighbouring Raglan. It’s the Waikato beach town’s comparatively cheap prices, its quiet location and relatively undiscovered treasures such as having some of the region’s best fishing and a hot water beach, which agents say, is attracting people to the town.
Bayleys salesman Mark Frost is selling what he believes is the nicest home currently for sale in the Kāwhia area. The modern two-bedroom, twobathroom home at 123 Okapu Place, in Aotea — a quieter village just 10 minutes from Kāwhia, has an RV of $930,000 and is being sold by tender.
The property had been used as both a holiday home and an Airbnb, returning $40,000-plus last year.
“It’s rare to see a modern home with extensive water views come to the market. The highlight of this place is it’s modern, got views and has a solid holiday rental return.”
Frost declined to give a price indication, adding it would be much more affordable than Raglan where it would cost almost double.
He said it was difficult to put a price on it because it was a unique property and there was only one sale in Aotea in the last year. A basic two-bedroom, one-bathroom bach on Coopers Drive, that is two doors down from the water’s edge, sold for $570,000 in December.
Meanwhile, a waterfront property
at 510 Lawton Drive, also in Aotea, has an asking price of $865,000 and, according to the listing, is “the best value for money”.
“Within 20m of the water with stunning views of the harbour, rarely does a property with this spectacular beachfront/harbour position come up for sale,” the listing added.
The property has been owned by the same family for many years.
Frost said they had seen an increase in enquiry in houses in the town over the summer months, and both vendors would consider reasonable offers.
Property Broker listing agent Paul Wheeler said Kāwhia was an affordable “hidden gem”, only an hour away from Te Awamutu and about an hour and 20 minutes from Hamilton, albeit on slightly windier roads.
“The fishing at Kāwhia is a massive attraction. The other [drawcard] I feel is if you compare the east coast to the west coast, property that you’ve seen in Kāwhia is probably a million dollars on the east coast so what you can get in Kāwhia and affordable to just mum and dads.”
There were a lot of properties on Māori lease land in the town, and
these were usually priced around $200,000 such as a one-bedroom, one-bathroom bach at 117 Moke Street with a price tag of $240,000, which usually needed cash buyers due to banks steering clear of them.
An entry-level freehold bach in or near the town could be picked up from $400,000, Wheeler said.
Prices then rose if the property had sought-after sea views and were closer to the beach to around the $600,000-plus mark.
“You can pick up a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home in the $400,000s whereas Raglan you are talking nearly late $800,000s, $900,000s.
“It’s just affordability — comparing horses with horses — Kāwhia is affordable and Raglan’s not affordable, that’s how I see it,” he said.
“Raglan is kind of like east coast prices — it’s a lot more expensive. If you can find a million [dollar] property, it’s going to be a ginormous property whereas Raglan is nearly an average of $1 million.”
A waterfront property on Kāwhia Rd on a 5501sqm section is the only property to have ever surpassed the $1 million mark in the town when it sold for $1.05m in April 2022, OneRoof-Valocity records show.
The highest sale last year was struck when a Lockwood home on Hoturoa St, with uninterrupted views of Kāwhia, sold for $815,000 in February last year.
More recently a cute-two-bedroom holiday home on Retemeyer Rd, marketed by Harcourts as having million-dollar views without the price tag, sold at the end of December 2023 for $638,000.
However, some of the cheaper baches close to the water might be in more remote areas such as the onebedroom, one-bathroom bach across the harbour from Kāwhia.
Wheeler said 13 Whiteley Place had been getting a lot of interest in the last month as people started looking for holiday homes again.
The property is a half-hour drive from the closest shopŌin pārau, but has impressive sea views sitting above the local boat club and was only 50m from the harbour.
“It suits anyone looking for an affordable bach . . . it’s just someone that wants affordability and at enquiries over $380,000 it’s affordable for most people,” Wheeler said.