- Noel Edmonds’ new TV series has increased UK interest in Ngātīmoti.
- Agents expect more UK enquiries, but highlight restrictions on foreign buyers.
- Ngātīmoti’s average property value has risen 4% this year.
UK celebrity Noel Edmonds has returned to British TV screens with a new documentary series about his new age life in Ngātīmoti - and it’s already having an impact on the New Zealand housing market.
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Google searches of the tiny Tasman town, near Motueka, reached their highest point following the debut of Noel Edmonds’ Kiwi Adventure at the weekend, while UK searches of OneRoof more than quadrupled.
OneRoof data analyst Adriana Tous said almost all of the international search activity for Ngātīmoti originated from the UK. “We can see a distinct spike in searches from around June 20, reaching their highest point ever,” she said.
Edmonds and his wife Liz outside their pub, The Bugger Inn. Photo / Supplied
What UK viewers are dreaming of - a view down Motueka River in Ngātīmoti. Photo / Getty Images
“While we can’t pinpoint the exact number of unique users, this trend strongly suggests increased interest following the TV show’s launch.”
UK-based browsers of OneRoof jumped from fourth place to second after June 20, accounting for more than 14% of international views on the property site.
Real estate agents who cover the patch where Edmonds and his wife, Liz, own a 300ha property empire told OneRoof that they were preparing for a bump in enquiries from the UK.
Edmonds, who is famous for hosting TV hits Noel’s House Party and Deal or No Deal, moved to New Zealand with his wife just before Covid struck. They bought a multimillion-dollar estate in Matakana, north of Auckland, before heading south to Ngātīmoti, where they started the tourism venture River Haven, which includes a restaurant, vineyard, and an English-style pub called The Bugger Inn.
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The couple’s arrival in Ngātīmoti had an immediate impact on the local property market thanks to the number of properties he snapped up, with local media reporting he spent around $30 million. “There was a flurry of activity around him when he moved here,” Harcourts agent Graham Durrant told OneRoof.
He believes it will pick up again in the wake of the new show, although he warned UK fans not to get their hopes up, highlighting the current restrictions on foreign buyers.
“For people in the UK to buy rural properties, they need to go through the Overseas Investment Office scenario. It is not a straightforward purchase; there are quite a few rules. You have to have a certain amount of money to invest in New Zealand land.”
Up for grabs next to Edmonds’ River Haven empire in Ngātīmoti is 1311 Motueka Valley Highway with an asking price of $1.65m. Photo / Supplied
Edmonds at his Tasman estate. The UK celebrity is known to Kiwi and British fans as the host of Noel’s House Party. Photo / Supplied
Durrant said he’d met Edmonds and found him to be a nice guy. “He is just a normal person when you talk to him,” he told OneRoof.
“I grew up in Motueka Valley, and we used to have a garage and general store. Noel is injecting that type of thing back into the area. River Haven is not yet operating 12 months of the year, but hopefully it will end up being a good little hub. It could be quite a boost for Ngātīmoti.”
Most properties for sale in the area are former tobacco farms that transitioned into lifestyle properties after former Prime Minister Robert Muldoon started a process which killed off the industry. Previously there had been laws which required local cigarettes to have a percentage of New Zealand leaf in them, Durrant said.
Durrant is selling one such property near Edmonds’ River Haven. The 28.85ha lifestyle block at 1311 Motueka Valley Highway comes with a three-bedroom house and has an asking price of $1.65m.
OneRoof figures show an uptick in house prices in the area, with Ngātīmoti’s average property value rising by 4% since the start of the year to $1.06m, although property sales are low. The average property value in nearby Motueka has risen 2.9% over the same period.
Arizto agent Tiana Ferguson believes Edmonds’ show will lift house prices in the area. Last year, she sold a home on Motueka Valley Highway for $675,000 and told OneRoof that the local market had definitely enjoyed a “Noel” bump.
Ferguson said that she knew of a couple of local properties that had sold privately just before the programme aired. “There isn’t a huge amount for sale at the moment, but when properties come up, they get snapped up pretty quickly,” she said.
“Anyone who lives here, unless they have to sell, they won’t sell, because they love it here.”
However, she noted that larger lifestyle blocks were harder to shift because the buyer pool was smaller. “Smaller blocks with the houses with additional income potential, those are flying out the door.”
She added that international interest would help drive the market. “It adds that extra competition,” she said.
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