Barfoot & Thompson auctioneer Campbell Dunoon tells vendors in Mangawhai he is the poster boy for their market.
Dunoon moved to the coastal Northland town, about one-and-a-half hours’ drive from Auckland, after Covid arrived, saying he has chosen to work in Auckland three days a week and live in Mangawhai four days a week.
Some coastal areas are changing their shape because of people moving out of the cities and Mangawhai is a case in point.
Dunoon says when Aucklanders move north, they take their money with them which not only forces prices up but allows service providers to come into the area.
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“Mangawhai a year-and-a-half ago had very average roads, no supermarkets, just a Four Square, extremely limited options in terms of dining in cafes.
“Now, it’s got a Bunnings, it’s got a New World, it’s got major roads going through, it’s got planning approval for another 4000 houses and light industrial.
“The next thing will be medical centres. All of this is happening and you really can’t buy into Mangawhai at all now for under $1m.”
Dunoon, originally from Australia, says the same change to coastal towns happened there but the Australians are 10 years ahead.
Barfoot & Thompson auctioneer Campbell Dunoon at his home in Mangawhai, in Northland. He says the changes brought about by Covid have made living in beach towns more feasible. Photo / Supplied
When he grew up in Barwon Heads, about an hour and a half from Melbourne, it was a sleepy village with a fish and chip shop, white sand and a good surf break – now, it has restaurants, health clinics and meditation centres.
Covid has been a tipping point for change, Dunoon says: “Suddenly Covid appears and you can work from home and the necessity of coming into Shortland Street [in Auckland central] is gone.”
He says he has made the psychological shift north, as well as the physical shift, and expects a lot more people to follow.
“I think the only reason people stay in Auckland is because their kids are there and their grandchildren are there but once the kids grow up there’s a lot of people who are moving to retire up north.”
