Bay's high-end homes in demand

GOOD VALUE FOUND: Ross Stanway, chief executive of Realty Services.

Sales are heating up at both ends of the Tauranga property market as confidence grows and banks loosen lending criteria.

Ross Stanway, chief executive of Realty Services, which operates Bayleys and Eves, said interest in multi-million dollar properties had spiked recently, which he attributed to people being able to get good value for money in the higher price range.

Aucklanders were also migrating to the Western Bay with enough money to buy a far superior home in Tauranga than what they had sold in Auckland, he said.

Last month his firm sold a property in Waratah St, Matua at auction for $1.65 million and another on the Maungatapu waterfront for "well over a million".

There were also a number of high-end homes with contracts on them at present.

At the other end of the market Mr Stanway said sales were on the up as banks increased the flexibility of lending criteria for first-home buyers.

Investors were also keen to snap up well-priced properties in rentable areas, he said.

With popular shows such as The Block, there would always be Kiwis who saw the potential in a good doer-upper and were prepared to put the "perspiration and inspiration" into it, he said.

This had a follow-on effect in a street or suburb. As one or two homes were done up and their value increased, other residents were inspired to do the same.

"People start renovating because that's the way the area or street is going."

Overall access to capital and confidence were both up, which bode well for the property market, Mr Stanway said.

"I think there is a fairly widespread level of confidence."

LJ Hooker Pyes Pa branch manager Craig Wilson said interest in cheaper properties had soared in recent weeks, sparked by the banks loosening lending requirements.

"The doer-up and the cheaper property are very popular, more so in the last six or eight weeks."

Mr Wilson said REINZ figures showed homes under $400,000 made up 70 per cent of the sales across Tauranga city during August.

In June they made up 48 or 49 per cent, he said.

"What that tells us is first-home buyers are back in the market place."

Mr Wilson said banks were loosening up on their lending criteria and investors were showing a keen interest in cheaper property as well.

So far this month, he said, 75 per cent of sales (including conditional contracts) were under $320,000.

The onset of spring and increased property stock was also bolstering the market, he said.

Internal migration was high from Auckland but also Christchurch and Hamilton, he said.