Bay of Plenty real estate: New record for Ōhope house sale - $4.65 million

The new most expensive home in Ōhope was sold at auction on the weekend for $4.65 million. Photo / Troy Baker

A new record price has been reached with the sale of a house in Ōhope, showing demand for beachfront property has not wavered as the market enters 2022.

The beachside property at 5 Plantation Reserve sold for a whopping $4.65 million, the most expensive house price reached in the area. It was sold by Harcourts agent Trudy McKinnon.

The previous record was $4.2m, for a house on Pōhutukawa Ave sold by Ray White Ōhope agent Tony Bonne in November last year.

After receiving an initial offer which was acceptable to the vendor, the auction for the Plantation Reserve home was brought forward to give other bidders a chance to compete. There were four bidders competing for the home, with bidding starting at $3.925m.

The beachside property at 5 Plantation Reserve.

The number of bidders was a good sign, Wayne Pamment, director of ETB Realty and Harcourts Whakatāne, said.

"There were several bidders, which indicates to us that there is still a strong appetite for beachfront properties."

Pamment said the architectural design and location of the home appealed most to the viewers.

"Location is obviously very important, Plantation [Reserve] is considered a premium spot at Ōhope Beach, and the renovations on this property were fantastic. It was a large five-bedroom home which appeals to big families. All of those were factors in reaching that sort of price," he said.

"When you compare it to other beach locations like Mount Maunganui and Whangamatā, $4.65 million is still a reasonable number in comparison."

The house sits on a land area of 1055sq m and boasts five bedrooms, three bathrooms, three lounges and separate bar facilities for entertaining.

The new owners of the home are from out of town.

The market in Ōhope was still going strong, Pamment said.

"We still have good buyers who are looking for good properties.

"We've got a number of properties we've sold in the last six to eight weeks in Ōhope, and we've still got offers coming in every week for good property over there.

"Like the summer we just had, people have a great experience when they holiday here and that flows through to their decision-making about whether they want to continue that, and have some security of that."

McKinnon did a "fantastic" job of organising large open homes and marketing the property, Pamment said.