"Prime beachfront sections like this are getting harder and harder to find, in fact, they are a rarity. There is a considerable market of people who are looking for a slice of the Kiwi beachside dream and have the money to do so."
The land to the left of the development is zoned conservation and cannot be developed under the current city plan.
Mr Reddy said there had already been national and international inquiries with the development, but the majority of interest was local.
Construction was under way on installing a roundabout at what will be the entrance to the project with landscape and infrastructure works to follow.
Owner of Harcourts Mount Maunganui Nigel Martin said his company was selling the 23 sections at "Beaches" on behalf of Coast.
In the 10 years he had been in the local industry, Mr Martin had not seen a bare beachfront block come up for sale.
"It's extremely rare to have a piece of land come up like that in the Mount or Papamoa," he said.
"It's right at the very start of Papamoa. It's a desirable location. It's handy to the motorway, Tauranga, down the coast, Bayfair.
"There are a number of small shopping centres that are starting to pop up around that development."
Mr Martin said a number of ex-pats were looking to invest in coastal property at the Mount or Papamoa.
"The demand is there at the moment but there's not a lot of beachfront property for sale," he said.
Those who had bought or built homes for permanent living on the beachfront rarely put them up for sale, he said. "That becomes the ultimate location."
A lot were holiday homes owned by out-of-towners.
Large, 700 to 800sq m sections continued to be bought with the former bach or home removed and the land redeveloped.
There were currently about six homes under construction on Marine Parade alone, he said.
Chief executive of Realty Group, which owns Bayleys and Eves, Ross Stanway, said there was no doubt the Beaches development would be "quite special" because it was one of the few coastal subdivisions for some time that would be made available.
Coastal property was still some of the most sought after in the Bay, he said.
"From a market point of view, yes, there's certainly still a demand for life on the coast and property on the coast and that comes from people within the region and those moving to the region.
"It's still a very strong part of our property market, the coastal strip, so any addition to that in terms of new opportunity I think would certainly create a good strong level of interest."
Owner of First National Tauranga, Mount Maunganui and Omokoroa Anton Jones said his firm sold beachfront properties at Omokoroa while those on the peninsula offering sea views were popular.
"It's particularly appealing for people when you can see the water or get close to the water," he said.
For the past couple of weeks his agents had reported good demand and inquiry for the higher-priced properties, he said.
"I think definitely you're getting a lot of houses in the upper end that are selling."
He put this down to buyers with high equity coming into Tauranga.
"The disposable income's quite high at the moment."
Remaining undeveloped residential land along the Mount and Papamoa coastal strip
131 Maranui St - 10,600sq m
141 Maranui St - 9680sq m
331 Oceanbeach Rd - 1580sq m
451 Oceanbeach Rd - 820sq m
Source: Tauranga City Council
