An original bach in a prime spot on Mount Maunganui’s Marine Parade sold this week for $8 million, breaking this year’s sale price record for the beach suburb.
The two-bedroom, two-bathroom 1930s-era property was bought by the vendors’ family in 1993 for $285,000. Within two short minutes on Wednesday afternoon at Bayleys’ auction room, it fetched 28 times as much.
Bidding at the auction opened at $6m and quickly escalated as two buyers tried to outdo each other.
Bayleys auctioneer Stephen Shale announced the property was on the market at $8m before slamming the hammer down seconds later. The sale price, achieved after 20 bids, exceeded the 2023 RV of $7.13m and is the highest for the Mount and Tauranga so far this year, beating the $7.9m paid at auction in April for a neighbouring house.
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Shale told those in the auction room that the property, which sits on a 792sqm section directly across the road from the beach, had been owned by the same family for many years.
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Bayleys listing agent Conrad Doyle said the buyer was from the Waikato and planned to build a dream home on the site. The home sold in April was also bought by a Waikato buyer who wanted to build a new residence.
“People seem to be looking for Marine Parade. They want that executive position, they want something special.”
Double frontage sites, which this year’s two most expensive properties had, were in demand. “That’s what buyers are after. They don’t want skinny, narrow sites.”
That particular stretch of Marine Parade, between Sutherland Road and Grove Avenue, was much sought-after, he said, with buyers waiting for the right property to come up.
“It’s particularly special because you are not too far south. You can walk into the village quite easily. They [the buyers] just wanted that elevation. The dunes are really low there so it has all the ingredients for them to build a lovely house there.”
The large 792sqm site lent itself to having development potential. Photo / Boundless Vision
A modern three-bedroom home on Oceanbeach Road holds the record for Mount Maunganui's highest-ever sale price - $11m. Photo / Supplied
Doyle said the vendors were “ecstatic” with the result. “You can see why people hold onto these [properties] for a long time because once you let them go you are never going to get them back.”
He said developers were staying away from properties like the one that sold because high development costs made them financially unviable.
This year’s Marine Parade sales are still several million dollars short of the record holder. A modern three-bedroom, two-bathroom beachfront property on Oceanbeach Road remains the Mount’s most expensive home ever sold, after it sold for $11m in July 2022. The Oceanbeach Road sale trumps an earlier record set in 2021 by the late Sir Colin Giltrap, when he sold his five-bedroom penthouse in the Eleven apartment complex on Maunganui Road for $10.2m.
Doyle believed Marine Parade homes were more valuable than those on Oceanbeach Road because they were closer to the Mount Village Precinct.
“I think Marine Parade, especially in the future, is going to hold more value. The most expensive homes on Marine Parade just haven’t sold yet. They are there and they will go above $11m – they just haven’t come to the market.”
In the last few months, he had noticed a shift in people who had been shopping now seemingly ready to buy, and expected more high sales in the coming months. Bayleys Mount Maunganui also recorded its best July in terms of written sales.
“Buyers are a lot more positive and they are pulling the trigger now and feeling a lot more confident to bid in our auction rooms.”
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