Big buyers hit holiday homes market | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

Out-of-town buyers are re-entering the residential property market and snapping up holiday homes in Tauranga, particularly close to the beach at Mount Maunganui.

After being in the doldrums for more than a year, the apartment market in downtown Mount came alive last month with several higher-priced sales including two over the $1 million mark.

Harcourts sold a total of 10 apartments last month, mainly at the Mount but also two in Harbour Drive, Bureta.

Max Martin, Tauranga and Mount Harcourts franchise owner, said the Marine Parade office had its second best month in seven years.

"It's just incredible. The activity started at the end of September. People took their money out of the banks and put it in to property," said Mr Martin.

"They are mostly people who live within a two-hour drive of the Mount and are buying holiday apartments. With interest rates coming down, the market must have reached its bottom," he said.

The latest QV Valuations and NZ Real Estate Institute figures will be released in a few days and overall sales volume is still expected to be low - on average house prices have fallen about 8 per cent over the past year.

Mr Martin said the recent apartment prices were below what the vendors wanted but they were realistic sales.

"I think the vendors, who were prepared to meet the market, were delighted that the sales went through and they can move on," he said.

One of the buyers was a Tahitian who paid $850,000 for a unit in The Reef Luxury Apartments complex on Marine Parade.

Another luxury apartment in The Pines on the corner of The Mall and Salisbury Ave changed hands for $1.5 million and one in the Oceanside Twin Towers sold at auction for $1.35 million.

Two apartments - one of them the top-floor penthouse - sold for $2.5 million and $1.77 million in the Shoreline complex on Harbour Drive overlooking Pilot Bay.

A good test of the apartment market will be auction of one of the penthouses in the Sonrisa complex on The Mall later this month. The developer initially wanted $5 million for the large apartment.

Last month Bayleys sold a 20-year-old townhouse in Marine Parade for $1.25 million - the same price which it fetched when it last changed hands two years ago.

Another three-bedroom townhouse, on the corner of Harbour Dr and Kulim Ave, went unconditional for the same price.

Gil Beadle, spokesperson for Eves and Bayleys said "we are coming out of the winter market. It's not easy putting deals together but sales are being made. That gives us some heart."

He said Eves and Bayleys' October sales increased 50 per cent on any month since April this year.

Meanwhile, the average home in Tauranga costs $445,000 which is 8.1 times the average household annual income - the worst in the country, said iwantahome.co.nz which surveyed 45 cities and districts with populations over 20,000.