Affordable home: How about this?
While people in New Zealand some cities are struggling to get a foot on the property ladder, a 112-year-old country homestead is up for grabs in Central Hawke’s Bay for less than the average cost of a threebedroom Auckland or Wellington home.
The two-storey homestead, in the community of Omakere, comes with five bedrooms, a wine store, tennis court, pond, formal lounge and 4.4 hectares of land. The downsides: no cellphone reception and a 15-minute drive for coffee.
Offers over $574,000 are being considered for the property, but owners John and Karen Morrell were hopeful they would sell it for more than $600,000.
‘‘The reality, particularly in Auckland the way prices are going, is it becomes prohibitive for people to aspire to own this kind of property, even within a 20km radius of Auckland,’’ John said.
‘‘If you move to Hawke’s Bay, which to me is the best area of New Zealand, and get a property like this for the price of a threebedroom house in maybe South Auckland ... it is a fantastic opportunity.’’
Craig Lowe, director of Lowe & Co Realty, said a house of a similar size in Wellington would likely sell for more than $1 million.
‘‘$800,000 buys you pretty much a good, well-renovated, threebedroom place in the eastern suburbs. Two years ago, the average price was $600,000 – that has been the change in the last 18 months.’’
According to the Real Estate Institute, the median house price in Auckland fell a seasonally adjusted 1.7 per cent last month to $800,000.
The Morrells bought their property in 2000 while living in Wellington. Since then, John has run his business from the house.
‘‘I was having a coffee when we lived in Wellington and I saw an article in The Dominion which featured this property ... I thought ‘Wow, that looks like an intriguing kind of property’.
‘‘We came out here and basically fell in love with it. The overall environment is what I like about it. It is the house plus where it is located,’’ John added.
The couple were moving to be closer to family but said they would miss the ‘‘Omakere traffic jams’’ – also known as sheep on the road.