Wellington’s urban sprawl is creeping further north up the Kapiti Coast and beyond as buyers try to escape the capital’s heated housing market.
And while house price growth on the Kapiti Coast has, over the past 12 months, outstripped growth in the capital, the TA’s median value of $860,000 is still seen as relatively affordable.
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Tommys Real Estate principal Nicki Cruickshank says the four-lane, 27km Transmission Gully highway will be a game-changer for the Coast.
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Scheduled to open in September, the $1.25 billion project is anticipated to shave 15 minutes off the drive between the capital and the Kapiti Coast’s main centre, Paraparaumu.
Cruickshank says a shortened commute of 30 minutes could lift house values on the Coast further.
In fact, driving to the Coast from Wellington city centre could take less time than the commute to Seatoun, one of the region’s most sought after suburbs and just 7km from Wellington city centre.
“Where it used to take 30 minutes to get into the city from Seatoun, it now takes 50 minutes,” Cruickshank says.
And while driving from Paraparaumu to the city during rush hour on a Friday afternoon or a Monday morning can currently take well over an hour, on a normal day it’s about 45 minutes.
That is expected to be shortened to about 30 minutes with the new motorway which is fine for a commute, Cruickshank says, and living on the Kapiti Coast also offers lifestyle benefits.
“The weather’s considered better up there. They talk about it being a few degrees warmer and you’ve got the beach and all that up there.”
Transmission Gully is expected to cut the commute time between Kapiti Coast and Wellington. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Already, the coast is so sought-after some homes in the best locations match prices of many Wellington suburbs, where you can’t buy a three-bedroom, one bathroom house for under $1.25-$1.3m, she says.
Those prices mean people with only $1m, nowadays a first home buyer budget, have to go further afield.
New townhouses, however, are probably more affordable up the Coast than in the inner city, Cruickshank says.
Tommys is selling two and three-bedroom townhouses off the plan for between $799,000 and $1.2m in the Four Kapiti development in Paraparaumu and these are seeing a lot of interest.
“They’ve been on the market two weeks and of the 78, I think there’s 50-odd sold.”
Ceinwen Howard, director of Howard & Co Realty, has been selling homes in the Kapiti Coast for 15 years and says the area has seen huge change.
Wellingtonians and people from the Hutt Valley have always considered Kapiti for a retirement option but since Covid 19 a lot more families have made the decision to change their lifestyle and move out there with their children.
Some are working from home at least part of the week and Kapiti Coast schools are held in high regard, from day care centres through to the two colleges.
Howard has also noticed a lot more elderly people moving to the coast since Covid, to be nearer their children and grandchildren.
People out exercising along Waikanae Beach on the Kapiti Coast. Photo / Mark Mitchell
But while there is huge demand, there is a “massive” lack of stock, and homes are fetching anything from 30 to 60 per cent above their RVs, she says.
Howard also says homes in Kapiti can cost the same as homes in the city but the Coast properties are different in what they offer, such as internal garaging and flat access as opposed to some of the hill suburbs in the city.
Raumati Beach and Raumati South are particularly popular, she says.
“Years and years ago they were just seen as holiday homes and things like that but very much now the mix is full time people living there.
“We’re seeing some demolishments and rebuilds because we’ve got very, very little land left, particularly in Raumati.”
In Raumati, it can cost more than $2m to build what are usually substantial family homes that are close to the beach.
Most of the sales Howard has made in Raumati have been for more than $1m, aside from a one bedroom bach which sold for $600,000 but that was a tiny property, she says.
She is unsure of how much difference the opening of the new motorway will make in terms of further demand.
“We may get another little run of people once it’s opened but to be honest most people have thought ahead because it’s been on the cards for so many decades now.”
People who want to break into the Coast on a budget could look at old Paraparaumu where properties still sell for under $1m, or they could look further up the coast.
“We’re still directing people up to Otaki and Levin, although those prices are starting to go up.”
