KiwiBuild interest builds as half of the properties are bought in one day

The first KiwiBuild homes in Tauranga and the Bay of Plenty at the Kaimai Views development in Omokoroa. Photo / George Novak

A Tauranga building company has been inundated with inquiries about the KiwiBuild homes in Ōmokoroa, made available for sale last Wednesday.

The eight KiwiBuild homes are part of the first stage in a joint venture between Classic Builders and the Western Bay of Plenty District Council.

Half of those were under contract the day after the launch.

It is expected the remaining four will be under contract soon. Further stages will take the development to 27 homes.

Classic Builders director Peter Cooney said the demand for housing in Tauranga is likely to continue for some time.

"It is an attractive place to live, immigration remains high, and people are still moving into the Tauranga area."

He said key to the success of this project has been the collaboration between the company, the Western Bay of Plenty District Council and the Government through KiwiBuild.

"It has been an enjoyable experience dealing with the Western Bay of Plenty District Council. Their vision is about affordable housing; our vision is about affordable housing, and collectively we have shown with collaboration and positive intent it can be achieved; we have achieved it at Omokoroa," Cooney said.

"KiwiBuild has enabled us to fast track stages of this development by underwriting a specific number of houses. It has enabled us to gear ourselves up and go a lot quicker.

"There is such demand for houses around that $500,000 mark that we will be doing a lot more here and intensifying the use of land even more."

Western Bay Mayor Garry Webber said the district council had land available and knew that any development it became involved with had to be a flagship in order to satisfy the local community that what was to be done was of good quality.

"We went out to the market and were able to put together a good arrangement with Classic Builders. The quality of the resulting homes is something we are incredibly proud to be associated with.

"The involvement of KiwiBuild has shown the three parts of the equation – local government, central government and the private sector – can work positively together solve a problem."