A swathe of properties in the popular and picturesque South Island hotspot of Akaroa is becoming more affordable as extremely motivated sellers slash their prices.
Some of the homes in the French-inspired town have been looking for new owners since the start of the year and the owners have now dropped the asking prices to around $750,000.
The houses had failed to sell at auction earlier this year and had been on the market for between three and six months as buyers were wary of buying a holiday home due to high interest rates and tough economic conditions.
There are currently more than 20 houses in Akaroa listed for sale on OneRoof, which is a stark change from two years ago when there were only nine properties for sale and buyers were clambering over each other to get into the market.
Start your property search
Bayleys listing agent Philippa Linton said most of the owners were permanent residents and either moving to a retirement village or relocating so had genuine reasons for selling.
Discover more:
- Historic Wellington mansion looking for nearly $6m after property duo’s standout renovation
- Artist bought quirky South Island crib sight unseen for $69,000 after spotting it in newspaper ad
- West Auckland family's big money saving after buying $400K home in Balclutha
“We are just trying to meet the market. They are all enthusiastic sellers, they all want to sell so they have agreed to drop their prices and some of them are selling well under the RV,” she said.
“All of these people are trying to move on. They are not desperate – I need to make that very clear – but they are ready to move so if somebody wants something amazing so this is the time when they will get something for a very good price.”
The properties ranged from a do-up to move-in ready in and around Akaroa, which Linton said would have fetched between $800,000 and $900,000 at the peak of the market.
The 1950s four-bedroom, one-bathroom home on Muter Street, in Akaroa, is in original condition. Photo / Supplied
Linton said the high-end properties were still in demand, but the mid-range properties were taking a bit longer to sell because they mainly attracted out-of-towners looking for a second home.
“I think a lot of people are waiting to see what happens with the interest rates, now we know about [the] bright-line side of things. I think people have been tentatively holding their foot over the brake just waiting to see if they need to brake or accelerate.”
An original four-bedroom, one-bathroom property at 19 Muter Street offered a huge opportunity for people wanting to add value, she said. Not much had been done to it since the owner moved in 52 years ago.
“You spend $250,000 to $300,000 on [renovating] it and you are only just cracking the million dollar mark where the houses on Muter are over $1m easy – $1.1m to $1.3m sort of thing.”
The property had an RV of $930,000 and was on one of Akaroa’s most desirable streets, she said. The owner was selling the 1950s home to move to a retirement village.
Just eight minutes away in the slightly more affordable Duvauchelle, the owners of a two-bedroom home at 18 Haywards Lane are also wanting to relocate, while a two-bedroom Lockwood home at 8 Bayview Crescent, currently being used as a holiday home, is being marketed as a holiday home. Both have price indications of $749,000/$750,000-plus. The RVs are $570,00 and $810,000 respectively.
Linton said recent sales in Duvauchelle, a serviced settlement just before Akaroa, usually fetched around the high $800,000s to the mid $900,000s. “With us going offers over $750,000, it’s really getting you into the market.”
The two-bedroom, one-bathroom home at 8 Bayview Crescent sits above the boatsheds in Duvauchelle. Photo / Supplied
The holiday home is being sold fully furnished. Photo / Supplied
The fourth property to take a price drop is a modern architecturally inspired two-bedroom home with water views at 13 Seaview Lane, in Wainui, on the western side of the harbour, which is inviting enquiries over $775,000. Its RV is $780,000.
“The difference is Wainui you drive there as a destination and it’s this beautiful quiet oceanside.
“It’s a bit of a hike, but once you are there you are there. There’s no shops, but it’s a beautiful beach and good community.”
Akaroa continued to be a popular holiday destination with people from Christchurch because it was only an 80-minute drive away and had everything they needed.
The town had benefited from remote workers moving there after Covid which had pushed the average house price up to past $1m, but two years on Linton said the main buyers tended to be people looking for holiday homes.
OneRoof-Valocity figures show Akaroa’s average property value has grown 5.4% year-on-year to $1.069m, but much of that growth was in the second half of 2023 with values dipping 0.83% in the last six months.
Harcourts salesperson Alan Nobbs said the market was slow at the moment which was not uncommon at this time of year, but the cheaper properties had been most affected.
“The buyers who have been paying the million-dollar-plus can afford it, whereas before our bottom of the market where people used to try and get themselves into a bach or holiday investment type property and that market has dropped out a little bit so the competition hasn’t been as hard in the low-end of the market than the top.”
A three-bedroom, one-bathroom cottage for sale at 47 Selwyn Avenue, in Akaroa, had also dropped its asking price from $750,000 to $715,000 since being listed in March, which was below its RV of $810,000.
Nobbs said it was a “DIY dream” in one of Akaroa’s popular streets, but a lot of holiday homeowners didn’t want to spend their weekend renovating a property and wanted something already done.
Those buyers who were around and had not headed overseas during winter were also trying their luck, he said, and a lot of offers were being made well under the property’s RV.
“Offers are coming in low and hard,” he said.
“Buyers are quite tough. They are going, ‘the media is telling us it’s a buyer’s market so we will just wait it out’. That lolly scramble has gone where they knew they had competition, now they are coming into auction properties and things and they are the only one.”
However, Akaroa continued to be a popular weekend getaway for people in Christchurch and even people who had holiday homes in further away places such as Wanaka were starting to think about switching to Akaroa because of its close proximity to the CBD, he said.
“It’s somewhere you can come on a Friday night and it takes you just over an hour to get here and it’s not taking a tank and a half of petrol at $3 a litre sort of stuff.”
Highlights for visitors included a sightseeing trip to spot the rare Hector’s dolphins or spending time at the upmarket Akaroa Cooking School.
- Click here to find more properties for sale in Akaroa
