One of the best homes in Kawhia has hit the market and will sell for almost half of what it would fetch if it were located in neighbouring Raglan.
It’s the Waikato beach town’s comparatively cheap prices, its quiet location and relatively undiscovered treasures such as having some of the region’s best fishing and a hot water beach, which agents say, is attracting people to the town.
Bayleys salesperson Mark Frost is selling what he believes is the nicest home currently for sale in the Kawhia area. The modern two-bedroom, two-bathroom home at 123 Okapu Place, in Aotea - a quieter village just 10 minutes from Kawhia, has an RV of $930,000 and is being sold by tender.
The property had been used as both a holiday home and an Airbnb, returning $40,000-plus last year.
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“It’s rare to see a modern home with extensive water views come to the market. The highlight of this place is it’s modern, got views and has a solid holiday rental return.”
Frost declined to give a price indication, adding it would be much more affordable than Raglan where it would cost almost double.
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He said it was difficult to put a price on it because it was a unique property and there was only one sale in Aotea in the last year. A basic two-bedroom, one-bathroom bach on Coopers Drive, that is two doors down from the water’s edge, sold for $570,000 in December.
Meanwhile, a waterfront property at 510 Lawton Drive, also in Aotea, has an asking price of $865,000 and, according to the listing, is “the best value for money”.
The vendor of a four-bedroom, two-bathroom waterfront home at 510 Lawton Drive, in Aotea, will consider all offers and has reduced the asking price to $865,000. Photo / Supplied
“Within 20m of the water with stunning views of the harbour, rarely does a property with this spectacular beachfront/harbour position come up for sale,” the listing added. The property has been owned by the same family for many years.
Frost said they had seen an increase in enquiry in houses in the town over the summer months, and both vendors would consider reasonable offers.
Property Broker listing agent Paul Wheeler said Kawhia was an affordable “hidden gem”, only an hour away from Te Awamutu and about an hour and 20 minutes from Hamilton, albeit on slightly windier roads.
“The fishing at Kawhia is a massive attraction. The other [drawcard] I feel is if you compare the east coast to the west coast, property that you’ve seen in Kawhia is probably a million dollars on the east coast so what you can get in Kawhia and affordable to just mum and dads.”
There were a lot of properties on Maori lease land in the town, and these were usually priced around $200,000 such as a one-bedroom, one-bathroom bach at 117 Moke Street with a price tag of $240,000, which usually needed cash buyers due to banks steering clear of them.
An entry-level freehold bach in or near the town could be picked up from $400,000, Wheeler said.
Prices then rose if the property had sought-after sea views and were closer to the beach to around the $600,000-plus mark.
“You can pick up a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home in the $400,000s whereas Raglan you are talking nearly late $800,000s, $900,000s.
“It’s just affordability – comparing horses with horses – Kawhia is affordable and Raglan’s not affordable, that’s how I see it,” he said.
“Raglan is kind of like east coast prices – it’s a lot more expensive. If you can find a million [dollar] property, it’s going to be a ginormous property whereas Raglan is nearly an average of $1m.”
A property on Hoturoa Street with views over Kawhia and out to Mount Pirongia was the most expensive sale in the town last year at $815,000 . Photo / Supplied
A waterfront property on Kawhia Road on a 5501sqm section is the only property to have ever surpassed the $1m mark in the town when it sold for $1.05m in April 2022, OneRoof-Valocity records show.
The highest sale last year was struck when a Lockwood home on Hoturoa Street, with uninterrupted views of Kawhia, sold for $815,000 in February last year.
More recently a cute-two-bedroom holiday home on Retemeyer Road, marketed by Harcourts as having million-dollar views without the price tag, sold at the end of December 2023 for $638,000.
However, some of the cheaper baches close to the water might be in more remote areas such as the one-bedroom, one-bathroom bach across the harbour from Kawhia.
A one-bedroom, one-bathroom bach with harbour views on Whitely Place, in Te Waitere, is inviting enquiries over $380,000. Photo / Supplied
Wheeler said 13 Whiteley Place had been getting a lot of interest in the last month as people started looking for holiday homes again.
The property is a half-hour drive from the closest shop in Oparau, but has impressive sea views sitting above the local boat club and was only 50m from the harbour.
“It suits anyone looking for an affordable bach ... it’s just someone that wants affordability and at enquiries over $380,000 it’s affordable for most people,” he said.
“Put that on the east coast and you are probably about $1m.”
Ray White Julie Burgess said people came to Kawhia for the quiet lifestyle and to fish.
“And it’s so much quieter than Raglan. Raglan has just got so busy and so overcrowded whereas Kawhia and Aotea are still peaceful, quiet villages and that’s what the people are looking for – they don’t want the crowds.
“It hasn’t got overpriced like Raglan and other coastal places.”
Kawhia’s township is also a lot smaller with just a Four Square, bakery, fish and chip shop, petrol station and newly-opened boutique hotel and restaurant Sands of Kawhia servicing the town.
Burgess has recently sold properties to King Country farmers wanting a holiday home and a leasehold home to a couple moving to Kawhia to be closer to Waikato Hospital. A lot of buyers were also from Hamilton and looking for a holiday home.
“Some of them are people who want to live here because it’s such a quiet area to be in – peaceful. People who fish, retirees, people with young kids because the beaches are great – lots of fishing.
Kawhia has a lot of houses on Maori lease land including this one-bedroom bach on Moke Street, which is for sale for $240,000. Photo / Supplied
“The higher-end ones would probably be more, maybe people retiring from farms, they want to get out of it, but they will want a peaceful base because they are used to the peace.”
Burgess said Kawhia and Aotea were similarly priced, but it depended if people wanted to be closer to the shops or closer to the safe swimming beach.
“There’s no shops out at Aotea. The beach is absolutely terrific for kids – it’s got the harbour so it’s quite a safe area – lots of fishing, kayaks out there, swimming.”
She’s selling a two-bedroom, two-bathroom house in Kawhia at 173F and 173G Pearl Avenue close to the beach and town that has a price indication of about $930,000. While the properties are being sold together, she said there was potential for the new owner to on-sell the empty section for about $350,000. An off-grid section on 0 Raglan Road, which is 10 minutes from Kawhia, has a price tag of $340,000.
“It doesn’t have the water views, but it has rural views and it’s very private.”
Burgess said the closer the house was to the water or the better the views, the bigger the price tag.
“There’s not that many freehold ones that actually come up and if they do with water views they tend to go fairly fast.”
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