Region has property for all budgets

Jason Hyde-Hills

A half-hour drive will take you from Tauranga's cheapest house to its most expensive.

A $12 million Ohauiti mansion with five bedrooms and seven bathrooms is the most expensive home on the market in Tauranga, but just across the city you will find a 34sq m single-bedroom house listed for $169,000 in Pillans Point - one of the city's most sought-after suburbs.

For $169,000, the cheapest price listed for a house and section in Tauranga, you can also buy a two-bedroom, 70 square metre home in Merivale.

Jason Hyde-Hills, of Eves Realty Willow St, said the property on Pillans Rd, Otumoetai, was the cheapest house he had ever seen.

"The reason it's so cheap is probably because it's so small. I'm getting lots of interest in that property, mostly from investors at the moment," he said. "This little ripper is good stock and very much in high demand from investors and first-home buyers alike."

LJ Hooker's Barry Fredheim said a two-bedroom house on Oxford St was the cheapest he had listed in 10 years.

"It's compact and cute. It needs a little bit of maintenance," he said. "That's the value of the property in that area."

Mr Fredheim said buyers tended to jump at properties listed with a realistic price.

AnthemNZ agent Julie Hignett has the Bay's two most expensive properties listed.

The $12 million Ohauiti estate hit the headlines last October after it was announced there would be a $400 viewing fee a bid to put off time wasters.

The owners were an "extremely private" American couple who spent a lot of time overseas, but called Tauranga home and were in no rush to sell.

Advertising was originally aimed at overseas buyers, but Ms Hignett said she had just started to focus on the New Zealand market and already had a man in Rotorua wanting to look at the house. The owners built the house 17 years ago.

Also on the market was a $4.4 million property on Plummers Point Rd, Omokoroa.

Ms Hignett said the house was undergoing a million-dollar renovation.

She preferred listing a price on expensive houses to dissuade those who clearly could not afford to buy the properties.

Also available for buyers at the top end of the market was a $3.35 million Oceanbeach Rd beachfront property.

Mark Woodham, of Harcourts, said the owners were also willing to sell a smaller house worth about $650,000 behind it, taking the total to about $4 million.

The house had already been on the market for about six months and the owners, living in Melbourne, were in no hurry to sell and happy to wait for the right price, he said.