A rare Raglan beachfront property sold sight unseen to Aucklanders this weekend for $2.355 million, nearly $1m more than its 2020 CV.
It is the first waterfront spot to sell in the town for some years, and comes as agents in the Waikato west coast town report a growing number of Aucklanders competing for limited stock of properties.
Prices are still shooting up: OneRoof data show Raglan’s current average property value is up a whopping 36% on last year to $1.18m. A year ago that figure was $873,000, five years ago just $608,000, making it one of the fastest-growing towns in the Waikato.
Ray White agents Yana Pemberton and Blair Hanna, who brought the three-bedroom 1980s Lockwood house on Nihinihi Avenue to auction on Sunday, said that four bidders, two from Auckland and two locals, competed fiercely for the property.
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Hanna said the Auckland-based buyers hadn't seen the property, but seconded Hamilton friends to check it out.
"They knew the area, and the waterfront. It's not about the house, it's the flat section, the best view, the sunset," he said.
Pemberton added: “It is the first beachfront on the market here for a couple of years, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The value was in the land, though the house was tidy and well-kept."
The sellers get one last summer in the house before it settles in January.
The 1980s Nihinihi Avenue, Raglan, bach was on land that had been in the same family for 70 years. Photo / Supplied
Bidding quickly passed $2m for the 900sqm property, which had a year-old ratings valuation of just $1.37m. The price is “big money” for Raglan, Pemberton said, but not a record for the year.
The pair also sold a nearly four-hectare lifestyle property on Matakotea Road, in nearby Te Uku – complete with a glamping tent business – for $2.3m.
“It sold to locals, but we had a lot of enquiries from Auckland, we’ll see more of them over the next few weeks,” Pemberton said.
Aucklanders are already flooding the town today, Hanna said. The agents showed their first property to out-of-towners at 9am, with more booked for the rest of the day.
"They must have left town at 4am. One of our later bookings is caught in traffic jams getting down here," he said, adding that all the car parks in town were already taken and cafes were doing a roaring trade.
The year's record for Raglan was the March sale of a five-bedroom lifestyle property on over four hectares on Hills Road, with spectacular views of the town, that sold for $2.4m.
A three-bedroom house on Tahuna Avenue, Raglan, sold at auction for $1.205m. Photo / Supplied
Bayleys agent Mark Frost, who brokered the record Hills Road deal, said that Covid lockdowns in Auckland had helped spur people to make the move south.
“If people were considering moving towns, Covid helped them jump off the fence. As well as retail and hospitality, there’s lots of work in light industry, and new homes going into the new subdivision at Rangitahi Peninsula so plenty of work for tradies coming into town,” he said.
“With the new expressway, for Aucklanders Raglan is much easier to get to than the Coromandel, or it’s 40 minutes to Hamilton to work, that’s nothing compared to Auckland.”
A Taipari Avenue, Raglan house sold for $1.422m last month. Photo / Supplied
Frost said that people from Auckland and the Bay of Plenty now made up about 30% of buyers for the town, another 30% were from the wider Waikato and the rest locals.
“There’s definitely growth in interest from Auckland, a good level of enquiry. We got through Covid in our town, and this weekend will be madness with the borders opening.”
Frost said that entry-level properties in Raglan now start at $750,000, with nice places fetching $1m to $1.5m. Top-end is a property and he is just about to re-list a property, also on Hills Road, with a big house and water access, that will ask $4.1m.
Also at Ray White’s auction this weekend, more modest houses sold well: a rustic-style three-bedroom house on a 809sqm section on Tahuna Avenue fetched $1.205m ($335,000 above CV), while a tiny two-bedroom place on Point Street went for $1.06m. Ten and 11 years ago, these properties sold for $415,000 and $262,000 respectively.
The owner of Raglan LJ Hooker, Greig Metcalfe, said that a lot of Raglan homeowners had waited for conditions to clear before listing their properties, so stocks of properties were finally building.
A lifestyle property on Matakotea Road, Te Uku, on the edge of Raglan, complete with a glamping business, sold for $2.3m. Photo / Supplied
“I don’t expect a rush into town on Thursday, but we expect a very brisk new year and buying in January to March. We don’t get a lot of people flipping properties, once they buy they’re very happy to stay.”
LJ Hooker agent Kyle Leuthart said he has showings booked with Aucklanders “getting out of jail” and was getting a large number of enquiries.
He said at auctions now, bidders will “keep putting their hand up until it hurts”, pointing to a sprawling four-bedroom home on Taipari Avenue that was expected to sell for around $1.2m but eventually sold for $1.422m under the hammer in late November.
“It sold five years ago for $610,000 so that’s a pretty good hold,” he said.
The number of listings, around mid-20s, is about half what it would traditionally be for the summer, Leuthart said, adding that years ago there would be as many as 200 properties for sale in the small town.
