Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Premium
Home / Bay of Plenty Times / Property

Family sell Papatoetoe house for $980,000, but cannot afford to buy new Auckland home

Ben Leahy
By Ben Leahy
Reporter·NZ Herald·
28 Feb, 2021 04:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

George and Lee sold their Papatoetoe home to developers for $980,000 but have had to look outside of Auckland to find a suitable replacement home. Photo / Supplied

George and Lee sold their Papatoetoe home to developers for $980,000 but have had to look outside of Auckland to find a suitable replacement home. Photo / Supplied

George and Lee have a big payday arriving in May, yet they can't afford to wait that long to buy their next home - otherwise they might end up in Australia.

The couple - who don't want their surname published - said Auckland house prices seemed to be rising so fast that every week waiting to buy equated to another suburb becoming unaffordable and them looking ever further south of the city.

Having sold their 982sq m Papatoetoe block of land to developers in November for $980,000, the deal was due to be settled in May.

They hoped that would give them the cash to buy a modern home to last through to their old age, with enough bedrooms for their sons to move in.

And while they knew they would need to look south for the right home, they didn't realise how far south.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Initially, we looked at places like Papakura, then Pukekohe and Waiuku and Pōkeno," George said.

"Then we ended in Te Kauwhata."

Like so many other Aucklanders, the experience of now looking to buy in Te Kauwhata, 77km south of Auckland's CBD and 38km south of George's Manukau workplace, showed how ballooning prices were forcing buyers to run through plans A, B, C and D.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In South Auckland alone, Mangere East ($235,000), Manurewa East ($220,000), Clover Park ($210,000) and Otara ($205,000) were among suburbs with median prices below $650,000 one year ago that had now risen in value by more than $200,000.

It had left George and Lee desperate to buy before prices rose further. They had to go hat-in-hand to the bank, seeking early sign-off on a home loan while they waited for payment from their Papatoetoe sale.

Despite all the challenges, George said the family had to keep their eyes on the goal.

Having lived 40 years in their Papatoetoe home - bought in 1981 for $44,707 - George and Lee's mission was to bring their family together in a new home that would last the next 40 years.

At the moment that meant targeting Te Kauwhata. But should they fail to win the bank's approval, well, there's always plan E - move to Australia.

The couple had two sons living in Melbourne and George had even found cheaper homes on sale in the Victorian capital.

"It's a bit late in life to make such a big move, but at least we will be together as a family again, so its one of the options we have on standby," he said.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Property

Bay of Plenty Times

$1m buyers crazy for Hare Krishna barn with cars in the lounge - 'my busiest open home in three years'

Bay of Plenty Times

Median house price falls in Auckland, increases in regions

Premium
Property

'Not much': $7200 fine for landlords breaching healthy homes standards too low


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Property

$1m buyers crazy for Hare Krishna barn with cars in the lounge - 'my busiest open home in three years'
Bay of Plenty Times

$1m buyers crazy for Hare Krishna barn with cars in the lounge - 'my busiest open home in three years'

Stunning Bay of Plenty home used to be a Hare Krishna workshop.

15 Jul 08:10 AM
Median house price falls in Auckland, increases in regions
Bay of Plenty Times

Median house price falls in Auckland, increases in regions

14 Jul 09:54 PM
Premium
Premium
'Not much': $7200 fine for landlords breaching healthy homes standards too low
Property

'Not much': $7200 fine for landlords breaching healthy homes standards too low

29 Jun 09:00 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP