“Significant” house sales are racking up and price records are set to be broken in a once-rural village as city slickers seek to escape the hustle and bustle.
Te Puna, in the Western Bay of Plenty, is undergoing a massive transformation from its status as a desirable rural town to a sought-after lifestyle area still close to the city.
A huge mansion on Minden Road with a dedicated lounge for a Porsche is set to be among the area’s record-breakers with a price tag of $4.25 million, while a cedar and masonry style home at Clarke Road that is on the part of Te Puna closest to Tauranga is seeking $3.25m. A waterfront home on Lindoch Avenue is also expected to get circa $3m when it sells.
Oliver Road salesperson Jason Eves said Te Puna had always been one of the most desirable rural areas in the Tauranga surrounds and was now popular with “urban dwellers” seeking a quieter lifestyle while still close to the city.
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“The strain on SH2 north of Tauranga has resulted in a strong preference for staying close to the city and in this respect Te Puna delivers.
“Te Puna is a preferred option for buyers wanting this central convenience whilst looking to maintain existing work or personal connections to Auckland.”
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An architecturally-designed four-bedroom, two-bathroom residence on a 1.02ha lifestyle section on Waikaraka Drive West with an RV of $2.95m has just sold for what the agency had described in online marketing as a “significant price”. Meanwhile, a 14-year-old three-bedroom, two-bathroom cedar and masonry home on a 9443sqm section at 42 Clarke Road has an asking price of $3.25m.
Eves declined to give further details on the sale of the Waikaraka Drive West property out of respect to the vendor’s privacy, but said the Clarke Road home was a high-quality property that had scale, privacy, convenience and a rural experience.
A three-bedroom, two-bathroom home at 42 Clarke Road is marketed as being in "early Te Puna" and has an asking price of $3.25m. Photo / Supplied
Unlike many of the original properties associated with horticulture, the newer properties including the one on Clarke Road have been built without them.
Trueman & Co director Brent Trueman said Te Puna’s desirability was only going to increase especially once the new northern arterial route, which is currently under construction, opened.
“Like most cities the sprawl is north – look at Auckland. It’s no different for Tauranga really – it’s slightly north of Tauranga and it’s the place to be.
“It’s [Te Puna] going to be an exclusive little area just slightly north of the city. It’s only just out of Bethlehem – it’s only five minutes away.”
The massive home on Minden Road is being marketed as having two houses under one roof. Photo / Supplied
Those living in Te Puna would have their choice of either Bethlehem, in Tauranga, or Ōmokoroa, in Western Bay of Plenty, for shopping.
“It’s [Te Puna] feeding off the success of Ōmokoroa. Ōmokoroa is just booming now. It won’t be long and you literally won’t have to go into Tauranga City because you can head north to Ōmokoroa and the new town centre is going to be built there and so on. There’s a lot going on around there.”
A Fresh Choice supermarket opened in what was once a tiny seaside town last year, a new shopping centre is underway, and a new primary school and secondary school on the corner of Prole Road and Ōmokoroa Road closer to the highway are due to open in 2026.
Trueman said there was a mix of properties to choose from in the area ranging from waterfront to horticultural and lifestyle.
Te Puna has a mix of horticultural, lifestyle and waterfront properties. This waterfront home on Lindoch Avenue has a price expectation $3m-plus. Photo / Supplied
Entry-level properties in Te Puna start at about $1.5m and would most likely be an older home, he said, while the fanciest homes are in the $4m-plus range.
The most expensive house sale in Te Puna is held by a property on Whakamārama Road which sold for $4.64m in December 2021, followed by a property on Armstrong Road which fetched $3.65m in June 2022, OneRoof-Valocity records show. The highest house sale record for the entire Western Bay of Plenty is held by a waterfront lifestyle property on Jess Road, in Whakamārama, that sold for $5.6m in January 2021.
A mansion at 520B Minden Road has an asking price of $4.295m. Trueman said this could be a record for the street – if not the area – when it sold.
The massive home has a third lounge built especially to fit a classic Porsche, as well as a second smaller home within the property. It also has “arguably the best view in the Bay of Plenty region”, according to the listing.
Meanwhile, a waterfront property on a much smaller 1137sqm section at 13 Lindoch Avenue is circa $3m-plus. The four-bedroom, two-bathroom home has a 20m swimming pool and a “resort-like feel”.
One of the cheaper recent sales was an older house on a 2.8ha lifestyle property on Minden Road that sold for $1.55m in October 2023.
The Minden Road property was purchased by an expat, while local Tauranga families made up the majority of buyers looking at moving to the area. Unlike neighbouring Bethlehem, which was only zoned for Otumoetai College, he said Te Puna had an added benefit of being zoned for Tauranga Boys and Tauranga Girls High Schools.
“The primary schools as well – they are just second to none. Te Puna School, Omokoroa No.1 School – in the old terms they used to be decile nine or 10 schools.”
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