Wealthy buyers have returned to Raglan, with agents telling OneRoof they have noticed an uptick in $2 million-plus sales in the Waikato surf town in the last few months.
Last month, Ray White agents sold a four-bedroom trophy home on Hills Road for $2.15m, the highest Raglan sale price so far this year.
However, the property is unlikely to hold the record for long. Agents told OneRoof there were several other expensive homes under offer in Raglan which they expect will sell for more.
Bayleys Raglan agent Mark Frost said in the last month there had been a noticeable increase in buyers looking for upper-end properties, with one buyer from Auckland willing to spend $4m on a holiday home in the town.
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He said the new crop of buyers wanted homes with good views, privacy or on the waterfront. “Everyone’s main goal is to have a view or be close to the water – that’s pretty much the main driver of most buyers,” he said.
Buyers with $1.8m-plus could pick up an architecturally designed home with sea views at 78M Greenslade Road, in Moonlight Bay, which Frost considered one of the nicest homes he was selling.
The award-winning three-bedroom was designed by Red Architecture as a family bach and last sold two years ago for $1.87m to permanent residents. A modern two-bedroom home with expansive views out to the Raglan Harbour at 15 Rose Street would also attract well-heeled buyers, he said.
A two-bedroom, two-bathroom waterfront home on Wallis Street, in Raglan, sold under the hammer last week for $1.8m. Photo / Supplied
A three-bedroom, two-bathroom home at 78M Greenslade Road, Moonlight Bay, in Raglan, is being marketed at buyers with budgets of more than $1.8m. Photo / Supplied
Frost was unsure exactly why there had been an uplift in the higher end of the market, but said it could be because people thought the market was at or near the bottom.
“People see some light at the end of the tunnel and values might start moving again so why not, I guess, have a chance to get into and get some good value properties now.”
While July had seen the smallest number of sales so far this year, down to just nine, the prices ranged from $710,000 to $2.1m, with the average sale price between $1.2m and $1.3m.
Frost and Ray White salesperson Julie Hanna both had several other properties under contract hovering around $2m including a waterfront property on Rangitahi Peninsula that would break the current year’s record.
Last week, a two-bedroom, two-bathroom waterfront home on Wallis Street sold under the hammer in a Bayleys auction for $1.8m.
“We’ve actually – for a small town – through winter been pretty consistent and then in the last month there’s definitely been an increase in buyers, particularly in Bay of Plenty and Auckland, looking for a higher-end home,” he said.
Hanna had also noticed more sales in the higher end and said it had been her busiest June in a long time. Overall, there had been 20 sales in the town, which was more than double the same time last year.
Hanna sold the Hills Road home for $2.15m in July and a property on Upper Bow Street sold in June for $2.025m. Both were snapped up by locals including the Upper Bow Street home, which sold within a week of hitting the market.
A court-ordered sale of a four-bedroom lifestyle property on Upper Wainui Road sold for $2.04m in May after six bidders fought over it. Photo / Supplied
“It’s buyers I’ve been working with for quite a while and then all of a sudden I’ve got the right match for them.
"It's just a matter of matching that buyer and when they see it and they love it well then they are not so dependent - as first-home buyers are - on what banks are doing and interest rates are doing.”
The month earlier six bidders fought over a property on Upper Wainui Road which sold in a competitive auction for $2.04m. The court ordered the sale of the four-bedroom, one-bathroom lifestyle property.
However, those with big budgets were quite specific about their requirements, she said.
“They are wanting Raglan, they are wanting views, they are wanting something amazing and all those high-end properties are nothing short of amazing.
“They are buying them for their homes so when you are buying it as your home do you want a bargain or do you want a dream home – and you want your dream home.”
However, Hanna said Raglan continued to be popular with people of varying budgets.
“If you can’t see the water you can get to it pretty quickly. It’s the lifestyle, it’s the cafes and it’s just the Raglan buzz.
“I guess that’s why a lot of people are coming because they like the vibes.”
Lodge salesperson Jono Hutson said there had been a lot more activity in the last month, but did not think it was just in the high end of the market. Hutson said there had been interest across the board ranging from first-home buyers, bach owners to people looking for luxury homes.
He hadn't noticed a huge amount of interest from Auckland buyers in particular and instead pointed to a three-bedroom, two-bathroom property just listed for sale at 14 Robertson Street, in Flax Cove, which had already caught the attention of people with farming backgrounds in the Waikato or Wellington. The home had an internal lift and a price indication in the mid-$1ms.
"Those people may be in their 50s / 60s thinking maybe we should downsize and find something that suits our lifestyle and move to Ralgan."
Some houses had been sitting on the market for months, he said, and this often came down to whether the vendors had realistic expectations.
"You can go online and have a look at the properties that are priced and there are some in Rangitahi that have been on for a very long time and you can tell the market hasn't moved to buy them and they are just overpriced. Those people are at 2023 and maybe 2022 prices."
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