Popular place to put down roots

Outdoor enthusiasts take delight in Lynmore's proximity to the Redwoods - Whakarewarewa Forest - for mountain biking, walking tracks and picnics. Photos / Mark West

During a period of runaway growth in property prices, Lynmore has cemented its place as one of Rotorua's most popular suburbs.

Bordered by farmland and forest and not far from some of the region's most beautiful and
best-known lakes, availability is always at a premium in Lynmore, say local estate agents.

As an added advantage, it is only about 5km from the CBD and a short drive to Rotorua Airport.

Lynmore enjoys a strong sense of community and, along with young families, who are drawn to the area by excellent schools and the proximity of outdoor pursuits, there's a solid core of older residents, many of whom have brought their own families up in Lynmore and who have watched it develop and expand over the past 30 or so years.

Once there were just a few dairies but now there are a number of retail outlets, as well as bars, restaurants, cafes and bakeries and community services such as doctors, dentists and a large gym.

Most development has taken place along busy Te Ngae Rd where Lynmore Junction shopping centre has become a central hub and sits alongside Motion Entertainment, an all-weather tourist attraction, which has an indoor tramp park, mini golf, tenpin bowling, Escape Masters, Megazone Laser Tag and much more — all under one roof.

Fans of the outdoors relish Lynmore's proximity to the Redwoods — Whakarewarewa Forest — a 5600ha wonderland where gigantic California coast redwood trees tower over a mix of New Zealand natives and exotic species.

FOR MORE PROPERTY NEWS AND LISTINGS GO TO ONEROOF.CO.NZ

Visitors to the forest enjoy mountain biking, walking tracks and pony trails. Because it is a productive plantation, forestry activity takes place throughout the year.

With all these community assets on hand, it isn't surprising that Lynmore is continuing to grow. A new retirement village is being developed and an upmarket subdivision, Redwood Park, is offering 45 consented lots on Tarawera Rd.

With sections alone starting at about $325,000, the new properties, when finished, have the potential to raise Lynmore's median property values significantly. Those values have already risen by 2.4 per cent to $597,400 in the first quarter of 2018, and are up 8.6 per cent year-on-year to March 31.

Anita Martelli, owner of Ray White Rotorua, says though this increase is less than in other local suburbs, it's purely because Lynmore is so popular.

"There's never enough stock to satisfy demand, so fewer sales are made."

She's pleased to see new developments opening up more land and bringing a greater supply of properties to market.

"It means there's a wider variety of houses on offer, from the tidy stucco 1940s homes to something much more modern."

Martelli says first-home buyers will struggle to find anything under $500,000 but that it's worth making the effort to buy in Lynmore if possible.

"It's a great suburb, with so much going for it. You really do have the best of both worlds with town on one side and the forest on the other."

For properties in Lynmore see OneRoof.co.nz