New wave of interest expected at coastal property auctions

The biggest auction campaign of coastal property and homes in New Zealand this year has been scheduled to take place in the South Island over the space of a week across two venues. 

The sizeable campaign - encompassing properties at the top of the South Island - has been organised by two branches of leading real estate firm Bayleys. The first batch of coastal auctions takes place in the holiday township Kaiteriteri on November 21, with the second selection going up for auction in Blenheim on November 28. 

The Kaiteriteri auction selection features four residences and one waterfront section to be built on, while the Queen Charlotte Sounds array of properties brings an additional four homes and two bare section offerings to the market. 

Over the past 18 months, Bayleys has run several other seaside ‘bulk lot’ residential property auctions. At Maunganui in Northland some 16 bares sites on a coastal subdivision were successfully taken to auction, and at Whisper Cover just north of Auckland, some six upmarket coastal homes and four adjoining development sites were sold either at auction or immediately after the event. 

In November last year, Bayleys Marlborough conducted an auction of nine coastal properties in Queen Charlotte Sound – with four selling, and offers coming in for a further three of the listings post-auction. 

Bayleys Marlborough manager Glenn Dick said the rationale for holding the dual spring coastal auction campaigns in Kaiteriteri and Queen Charlotte Sound was to allow buyers the opportunity for settling property transactions in time for the Christmas/New Year holiday period next month. 

“The three week period from December 24 through to mid-January is ‘peak season’ for holiday rentals across the top of the South Island – with holiday homes let out some five or six months in advance,” Mr Dick said. 

“We’ve had indications already from a number of potential bidders on two of these auction lots that they are keen to have the transactions wrapped up in time for the new owners to spend that period at the beach. With at least four of the homes, the vendors are selling the properties ‘fully furnished’ so the new owners won’t need to bring in their own fittings and furniture accessories.” 

Colleague Roar Kristoffersen from the company’s Motueka office said the majority of potential buyers who had already shown interest in the properties going to auction were fully comfortable with the prospect of little capital gain on the homes over the short to medium term. 

“The comments coming through to us are that the holiday homes will be bought purely as that – holiday homes – and not investment units purchased with the intention of making a ‘quick buck’ over a couple of years,” Mr Kristoffersen said. 

“This pattern indicates two very strong societal shifts. Firstly, a move back toward family values, where summers at the beach with the children and extended families are once again in vogue. And secondly, that prospective buyers are acutely aware of the wider economy and the effects this is having on future pricing levels for leisure properties. 

 “Conversely, many of the vendors with properties in these auctions have been taking on board market commentary very closely and, as a result, have indicated they have sensible price expectations.” 

Kaiteriteri – affably referred to as the ‘Riviera of the South Island’ – has some 354 residential dwellings and a resident population of around 735, which swells to approximately 6000 over the peak summer holiday period. All five of the Kaiteriteri properties going to auction are being marketed by Roar and Rebecca Kristoffersen, with the auction taking place at the town’s Beached Whale Restaurant. 

Meanwhile the six properties sprinkled throughout Queen Charlotte Sound – including Torea Bay, St Omer Bay and Waikawa Bay - range from modest baches through to a luxury home, and two substantial sections of more than one hectare each. All are being marketed by Glenn Dick, who expected prices to range from $500,000 to $700,000, although as the properties were all being auctioned, the values could not be specific.

“By getting rooms full of potential buyers, and putting up properties across the price spectrum, our vendors will get a good idea of where the market sits. And, buyers who have maybe dismissed the idea of buying a holiday property in the past, may be enticed back into looking again,” Mr Dick said.