Buyers paid a record price for this three-bed bach on Lake Rotoiti, in Rotorua. Photo / Supplied
A bach on Rotorua's Lake Rotoiti sold under the hammer this week for $3.33 million - almost triple its 2020 rating valuation.
The listing agent, Bayleys Rotorua manager Beth Millard, told OneRoof 12 bidders competed for the three-bedroom house on Whangamoa Drive, driving the sale price to a record level.
"Lake Rotoiti is pretty hot at the moment as it's such a tightly-held market," she said. "This had 67 inspections in two weeks. That's a lot, but about what you'd expect for Rotoiti because there isn't the supply."
Most of the bidders were from out of town, with a buyer from King Country, a two-and-a-half-hour drive away, making the winning bid at an intense auction that kicked off at $2m.
"Four bidders were there right to the end," Millard said. "This is so cool for our city. People are discovering the lakes and have real emotional ties. We won't be taking the summer off - we'll be very busy."
Millard said the vendors had upgraded the roof and decks of the 1980s house but had not done any major renovation work since buying it in 2015 for $850,000.
The sale is notable because unlike other homes that have fetched premium prices in the area, this one does not sit directly on the lakefront, with a 250m goat track the 3500sq m property's only access to the water.
"This was a record by a long shot for a non-waterfront home," Millard said, noting that a nearby waterfront lodge sold for $3.45m earlier this year.
The Whangamoa Drive bach wasn't the only Rotorua property to see huge price gains at auction. Bayleys agent Jenny Donne sold two properties on Spencer Road at nearby Lake Tarawera for $1.05m and $1.4m respectively.
"That's a lot for two bedrooms, on the side of the road that is not on the water," Donne said.
Only eight years ago the $1.05m property, a modest 1950s Lockwood-style bach, sold for $435,000 and its rating valuation, only a year old, was $835,000.
"We had four bidders for it, with the same number interested in a conditional sale if it didn't go at auction. That's a big change."
She added: "Even a year ago, if you'd said you'd get $1m for this side of the road people would say you were mental."
Donne said that most of her buyers were looking at lakeside baches as an alternative to high-priced beach homes.
Donne said properties on Spencer Rd that sold in February for less than $2m a year ago would easily get $2.5m now, "and I think we're heading to $3m for [properties] above the lake. Prices jump even higher for waterfront properties with lawns opening directly to the lakeside."
OneRoof records show Spencer Rd is Rotorua's most expensive address, claiming three of the town's four top sale prices, including a seven-bedroom cedar and schist lodge that sold in December for a record $4.5m.
Simon Anderson, Bayleys' managing director for the region, said there had been an increase in buyers looking for lifestyle properties. "They've got the cash and they're prepared to pay for it." he said.
"That's the change we're seeing. We've seen it in the Mount, and now we're seeing it in Rotorua.
"Interest in lakefront homes has escalated. You're close to Tauranga and Hamilton, yet a lot of people didn't know these lakes existed."
In Tauranga, buyers are also seeking out other waterfront options beyond the Mount.
A sprawling four-bedroom home on Plummers Point, an enclave of 12 homes about 15 minutes from the centre of the city, sold to a local buyer this week for $3.102m - more than $1m above RV.
Bayleys agent Jan Hodges, who marketed the 17-year-old home with Craig Orr, said five bidders competed for the property, with the sale price exceeding vendor expectations.
"Another one in Plummer Point sold just before lockdown, and two of the four bidders at this auction were people who had missed out on that one."
Auckland buyers paid $3.2m for a four-bedroom luxury house on nearby Kotare Crescent, in Tauranga. The house, marketed by Hodges and Megan Merritt, had the bonus of garaging for six cars.
Hodges said the buyers were a lockdown story: "They're tired of being in lockdown up there and not being able to visit their Tauranga family, so now they're off."