The Glass House, 33-39 Okoka Road: House prices on Waiheke have shot up in the last year. Photo / Supplied
On Hauraki Gulf's second-largest island, life is starting to imitate suburban Auckland.
Just a 30-minute ferry commute from the heart of New Zealand's biggest city, stakeholders say the balance is tipping on Waiheke Island, taking it from an island getaway to a permanent residential mainstay.
House prices and rents are rising fast, there are now three different ferry companies, local schools have jumped by up to two decile points, the hospitality industry no longer shuts down over winter and - in a telling sign - it is hard to find a car park.
Longtime locals are quick to point out unique island-only characteristics such as the wine, wedding and art industries, as well as the beaches and native bush that magnetise tourists across the harbour, but no one could deny the effects of year-round population growth and a fast-growing property market.
Auckland Property Management agent Jean Clark, who moved to Waiheke two-and-half years ago after a decade of holidaying there, says the island has changed.
"It's reached a tipping point," she said. "There are more people here than there has been in the past when people came here to get away.
"People now commute to get here and can still be on the grid. They want to live the city lifestyle they are used to but to get to have all the benefits of an island, too - if you're close to the ferry it really is basically just part of Auckland."
Brett Cooper moved his family 11 years ago to Waiheke, where he owns multiple properties including clifftop paradise The Glasshouse, which Ms Clark is currently letting.
He says he has witnessed significant changes.
"[In 2011] there were very few restaurants apart from the vineyards and you never had to book. Often on a Friday they asked if you could order early so the chef could go home.
"Now, we have got restaurants galore, you have to book, it's hard to get a park. It's gone from being a holiday destination to being a viable suburb."
The sales manager at Bayleys Real Estate in Waiheke, Mana Tahapehi, was born and bred on the island and has worked in real estate there for a decade.
Changes on the island had become a talking point, especially in the past six months, he said. "This year has been a really busy time in the market and we have had big gains in price and volume, certainly the main interest has been from Auckland central moving to the island."
While locals either up- or down-grading their properties were always the biggest clientele, Mr Tahapehi said about a third of sales recently were to people moving from Auckland, and a growing number coming from overseas, too.
There were noticeably more people around and he expected population growth to show in the next Census.
"Last year was the first time I have seen in winter most of the restaurants and cafes stay open for longer.
"Commuters have definitely played a part and that's plain to see in Oneroa by the huge increase of house prices there."
He said house prices in the suburbs close to the ferry terminal were comparable to Auckland's fringe suburbs.
According to the latest QV figures, the median house price at September 30 in Oneroa was $627,000 and the suburb's average at October 31 was $833,950.
In Onetangi this was $542,000 and $927,800; in Ostend it was $472,000 and $607,200; in Surfdale it was $513,000 and $611,900.
Average price growth in Onetangi in the two years to September 30 (21.8 per cent) was comparable to that of central Auckland's up-and-coming areas such as Sandringham (22.6 per cent), Meadowbank (23.6 per cent), Pt Chevalier (23.7 per cent) and Grey Lynn (21.1 per cent).
Median price growth in Ostend (30 per cent) and Surfdale (33.2 per cent) in the previous three years was comparable to Remuera (33.1 per cent), Ponsonby (31.3 per cent), Auckland Central (29.2 per cent) and Mt Eden (29.2 per cent).
Long regarded as the playground of the rich and famous - where clifftop and beachfront mansions sell for many millions and a proposed marina at Matiatia to house a rising number of boats is a contentious community issue - Waiheke also houses a sizeable portion of people at the lower socio-economic end of the scale.
The population has quadrupled in the past 25 years and in the 2013 Census, the population of 8340 had a median household income of $51,100 a year, a relatively low amount against $76,500 in Auckland as a whole.
Ms Clarke said rising house prices and ever-increasing popularity meant people were not only at risk of being locked out of the housing market, the same challenges facing wider Auckland, but also faced ever-rising rents.
"Locals are always looking for accommodation, a lot of people on the island are not particularly well paid so have probably now missed the boat to being able to afford [to buy] a property on the island."
Waiheke Local Board chairman Paul Walden said the body was exploring new initiatives to cater for those people.
"We're going through a process at the moment where we are looking at what other places have been doing.
"[We] will likely set up a community housing trust which will provide new, affordable housing in the community."
Mr Walden said the board was also reviewing building consents to allow for extra accommodation to be built and hoped to be able to reopen housing for the elderly after the island's only retirement village closed five years ago.
Another indicator of change on the island was the introduction of new ferries to transport the increasing commuter population.
There are now two fulltime ferry companies since Explore Group became Fullers Group's first opposition in October.
The company was the first rival to Fullers on the Downtown Auckland-Waiheke Island ferry service, and started operating shortly before Sealink began its weekend service between the two ports.
Increased demand for commuter and tourist markets made business a viable, long-term option, Explore said at the time.
Last month, the ratings of the island's three schools were also recalculated to decile 7 from decile 5 at Waiheke Primary School and decile 6 at each Te Huruhi School and Waiheke High School.
Waiheke Primary School principal Kathy Moy-Low said although the jump from decile 5 to 7 might have been more gradual had there not been a five-year gap between recalculations, it was undoubtedly a reflection of the island's changing demographic.
"It is changing, it is becoming a place seen as not only a holiday place but a place to live and bring up children because it is seen as a safe community for that," she said.
In April, a Kelly Club after-school childcare programme started at the school to cater for the growing number of commuter parents.
"Our roll is 230 and at times they have 40 to 50 children a night ... and there is a holiday programme as well which also helps the commuters."
Aside from commuters, Mrs Moy-Low had also noticed an increase in families involved in the local wine, wedding and hospitality industries and "global citizens" who worked abroad but saw Waiheke as a safe and isolated place to raise a family.
It was that isolation that gave Waiheke Island a unique character, said Gulf News editor Liz Waters.
And that character was almost impossible to fit into a suburban Auckland-shaped mould.
"You don't have a suburb where people have to manage their own water and sewerage. We don't have street lights, we don't have five-lane highways ... you have to go slow on the way to the ferry in order not to knock someone off their bike."
The Essentially Waiheke document created in 2000 laid a blueprint for the island's future based on widespread community consultation.
Ms Waters said it voiced preference for a unique travel destination rather than a "trendy suburb of Auckland".
"That's pretty much what the last [local body] election was fought on and won on: That the future of Waiheke is not suburban."
But she agreed rising house prices were an Auckland-wide phenomenon indicative of more people wanting to live on Waiheke.
Island life was not for everybody, however. "We have a long history of people who have come over, loved it and were gone by the next winter.
"In other words, it's a different experience and it isn't for everybody."
Claire and Andrew Lanyon moved from Australia to Waiheke Island for a lifestyle change.
Andrew and Claire Lanyon moved to Waiheke from Australia's Sunshine Coast a month ago and had to beat other contenders to secure accommodation on the island.
The couple had been holidaying on Waiheke for eight years and jumped at the chance to move there permanently and turn away from busy corporate jobs in which they travelled the world, but spent little time together.
"We were living to work rather than working to live," said Mr Lanyon, 45.
"There are jobs that we have always wanted to do that are fun, and also we wanted the lifestyle on the island, which is beautiful."
"We lived on the Sunshine Coast for 10 years which is a beautiful place. and we loved the lifestyle but it was too busy and hectic."
Next month, he will start a tourism venture called Segwai that will do off-road Segway tours, Mrs Lanyon, 35, will commute to a new job in Auckland City.
The Lanyons have rented a two-bedroom house in Oneroa, but said competing with other would-be tenants to secure the accommodation was hard.
The weekly rent is $650, and Mr Lanyon said that was higher than they had expected.
"It's high, it's definitely high, but I think that's also part and parcel of just the sheer need that there is on the island at the moment.
"It was a little surprising when we arrived and found it was quite difficult to find a place.
"To get the same sort of house we had in Australia, it would have been $1500 or even more a week when we looked at properties over here.
"Availability was the other thing."
An aerial view of the house and the pool.
• CV $2.5 million, weekly rent $2500ono
• 379m2 floor space
• 3 to 4 bedroom home + studio guest house
• Cinema room and wine cellar
• Infinity pool and spacious decks
• Incredible, panoramic views of harbour and island
• Fully furnished with bespoke furniture and art, most of which is made on the island or by New Zealanders.
Fullers Quickcat leaving Matiatia Bay, Waiheke Island
Population
7797 in 2006
8340 in 2013
Median house price
$458,750 in three months to September 30, 2011
$538,500 in same period this year
Schools
In November all were recalculated to decile 7 from one decile 5 and two deciles 6
Transport
Two fulltime and one weekend ferry company servicing the island
Source: Statistics New Zealand Census data and QV December 2014 Property Report
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