GETTING AHEAD
With its subtropical climate and wild beauty, Maori saw Whanga¯ rei Heads as a generous food bowl with seemingly endless kaimoana to be caught, and they lived in and around the area for hundreds of years before Europeans arrived.
Those settlers recognised the area’s farming potential and for a long time, the area was quiet and rural but in the mid-1960s, the Marsden Point Oil Refinery was built and new residents flocked to Whanga¯ rei in search of employment. Many decided that a longer commute was a reasonable price to pay for an idyllic seaside lifestyle and
Whanga¯ rei Heads gradually took off as one of the region’s most popular places to live.
As the suburb continued to grow, it saw a big burst of building activity in the early 2000s, when the majority of the current housing stock was built. The area is also popular with visitors, especially from Auckland, which is an easy 2.5km drive away.
Who lives here and what do they do?
In the past decade or so many Aucklanders have moved to Whanga¯ rei Heads, where they can successfully work remotely. The area is popular with families whose children can attend New Zealand’s secondoldest school and as with most of Northland, artistic and crafty types are attracted to the rugged beauty of the local volcanic landscape.
What’s to love?
The area isn’t known as the winterless north for nothing. The climate is sub-tropical and very temperate, which adds to a year-round holiday vibe and the lifestyle on offer in Whanga¯ rei Heads is second to none. Much of its attraction lies around outdoor pursuits with hiking, mountain biking, camping, tennis and golf on land, and sailing, kayaking, swimming, snorkelling, paddle-boarding, surf-lifesaving and of course, fishing in the sea.
The area has a strong community spirit and the Town Basin Marina is always bustling with activity. It’s home to the Parua Bay Tavern, known for its excellent food, and there are galleries, museums shops and cafes. The peninsula’s rich heritage can be explored in various historic sites that are dotted around the area.
Buying and selling
Whanga¯ rei’s performance postCovid hasn’t been supercharged as has been the case in places like Gisborne and Hastings, with the median property value up just 10 per cent on pre-Covid levels to $675,000, according to the latest
“There’s still incredibly high demand and never enough listings; this time last year I had nearly 30 properties on my books and now I only have 10 or so.”
OneRoof-Valocity house price index.
That said, Whanga¯ rei Heads has benefited from the postlockdown appetite among locals and expats for luxury coastal homes, with the suburb’s median property value close to hitting the $1 million mark.
Ray White agent Daniel Foote said that the housing market had slowed down in the lead-up to Christmas but now started to pick up.
“There’s still incredibly high demand and never enough listings; this time last year I had nearly 30 properties on my books and now I only have 10 or so,” he said.
“There’s not a lot of land out here and much of what there is is covenanted. Council is very strict about it because they want any land that is available to be used responsibly.”
Foote said that there was increased interest in the location from Aucklanders and overseas Kiwis. “They see it as an untouched paradise. So do expats, who are locked down overseas. I’ve done a number of transactions remotely now and with the new Covid variants turning up in places like the UK, some Kiwis who’d been holding on for the vaccine, have decided to pack it in and come home, so I’m expecting another rush.”
Buyers tended to be cashedup, with most first home buyers and investors looking elsewhere in Whanga¯ rei for affordable stock.
“You could get two houses in Whanga¯ rei for the price of one in Whanga¯ rei Heads, but I do see people buying a property here for their eventual retirement and letting it in the shorter term — and they have no trouble getting high-quality tenants.”