A property in Whitianga’s most upmarket suburb that’s a magnet for Auckland boaties has smashed the record for the beach town this year after selling for an impressive $5.8 million.
The waterfront property on Leeward Road, in Whitianga Waterways, sold in an off-market deal in March but only recently settled, OneRoof-Valocity records show. The exact details of the deal are unknown and appear to have been part of a trade involving another waterways home.
This year’s $5.8m sale is just shy of the town’s record last year when a property on Waitotara Way that involved two titles – a house and the vacant site next door – sold for $6m in June.
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Bayleys Whitianga salesperson Belinda Sammons, who was involved in the Waitotara Way sale, said Whitianga Waterways nets most of the highest sales because there were quite a few substantial and newer homes in the desirable area.
A Waikato holiday maker bought a large 1283sqm corner section on Hei Esplanade for $2.26m last month. Photo / Supplied
The most sought-after homes are the lavish two-storey properties right on the canal, she said.
“They’ve got quite big frontages so you can have a substantial boat out the front – mainly launches.
“It is really the boating lifestyle as to why people are buying them being that there is no bar to cross when you are entering and exiting the harbour. It’s a safe area to come and go.”
Auckland boaties seeking holiday homes on the canal are the predominant buyers, she said, as well as people from Waikato and the Bay of Plenty.
She recently sold a large corner section on Hei Esplanade for $2.26m to someone in the Waikato planning to build their holiday home on it.
Often the property started as a holiday home or a semi-permanent one before the owner eventually made it their permanent base, she said.
The first home ever to be built on the Waterways 21 years ago on South Highway West sold earlier this year for $2.45m. However, the waterways development is still under construction and several stages are still to be completed including a new retirement village that is also being built there.
The most desirable parts of the waterways are close to the entrance or on the west side of Joan Gaskell Drive and can fit both sedan and flybridge boats.
Harcourts salesperson Peter MacGregor recently sold a section at Leeward Drive for $1.46m to a boatie who plans to build a new home on it because his current waterways property is limited to sedan boats and he wants to park a flybridge in front of it.
“On the other side of the canal where you can only get a sedan boat under, they actually don’t attract as much value because you are actually limited in the size of boat you can put in.
A property at 51 Aquilla Drive has a price tag of around $2m. Photo / Supplied
It has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. Photo / Supplied
Sections on the canal currently start from around $1.5m, he said, with houses starting from about $2m.
He’s currently selling a property at 51 Aquilla Drive priced around $2m and a new build at 15 Awatea Drive asking for enquiries north of $3m.
The five-bedroom, three-bathroom home on Awatea Drive is an impressive and expansive 334sqm property with cathedral ceilings and two huge living areas.
MacGregor said $5.8m was a good price for the Leeward Way home compared to other recent sales and asking prices.
The properties on the western side of the waterways that can fit both sedan and flybridge boats are most in demand. Photo / Supplied
Most of those buying on the canal have magnificent launches, he said, which could be worth up to $7m or $8m.
“Usually people that buy on the canal front have boats worth more than their houses.”
They are selling up in Auckland, Morrinsville, Hamilton or Tauranga and relocating to the town of the lifestyle, he added.
“They are all coming to Whitianga because the lifestyle here is more laid back, there’s no stress of the traffic here, you will probably live 10 years longer living in this town than you would living in Auckland. We’ve got some of the best fishing on the planet here too.”
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