"These are good, sound homes built by well-established, well-known builders in the region."
Government initiatives such as KiwiSaver and HomeStart programmes were significant for first-home buyers. Mortgage brokers were fielding more enquiries from buyers who were able to access those sorts of platforms.
Stanway said there was a good balance of supply and demand in the region, which was much different to the situation in Auckland.
Aucklanders were increasingly coming to the region to buy property. Some bought an investment property initially until they were ready to move to the area and this assisted with the supply of rental properties.
"The trend certainly has been for younger people with young families from Auckland to move here, either to good new jobs, to businesses that are expanding here or relocating here. Or they're young people that have a business of their own or can operate a business from their home."
Many properties were going to auction, which required more "ground work" by first-home buyers to be successful, he said.
"But we still see them in our auction rooms."
Houses were cheaper in other parts of New Zealand, but those areas didn't necessarily offer the same opportunities or lifestyles as the Bay of Plenty.
"Affordability, to an extent, is a measure of the appeal of the region," said Stanway.
Nationwide, the median price of a first home last year was $380,000, according to CoreLogic. A total of 16,120 first homes were sold last year.
ASB senior economist Chris Tennent-Brown said first-home affordability varied widely from region to region.
Wages were rising modestly and interest rates had fallen, improving affordability at a nationwide level.
Auckland house prices were well up on last year, however, reducing affordability and swamping those other positive factors.
"If you've got prices going up 15, 20 per cent in a year, it doesn't really matter if mortgage rates are 5.5 or 6 per cent, you've got an affordability stretch going on."
Salaries in Wellington were going up at the same rate as elsewhere in New Zealand but house prices there were flat compared to five years ago.
"Combine that with lowered mortgage rates, and houses have actually got more affordable there over recent years," said Tennent-Brown.
"So it really is an Auckland versus the rest story when you look at that affordability challenge over the past year because Auckland house prices have really changed significantly relative to incomes over the past five years."
Places where land was less of a premium hadn't experienced the same house price pressures as Auckland. However, smaller houses and more intensive use of land for housing would also bring down the cost of houses in those parts of New Zealand.
Tennent-Brown said the construction sector and housing market had been more subdued in areas without Auckland's population growth.
Builders in the regions would build if they were getting the right signals. The first signal would be prices going up and the market becoming a bit more buoyant.
Job security was another factor in being able to buy a first home.
Real estate publications had reported enquiries from Aucklanders were picking up in the regions.
"I think it's something that people should consider because house prices have got extremely stretched and that affordability problem in Auckland is a pretty tough one," said Tennent-Brown.
However people didn't decide where to live based purely on house prices. They also considered family and social ties and job prospects.
Tennent-Brown said interest rates would probably rise and the outlook for wage increases was reasonably modest. That meant people who were borrowing large amounts for first homes would be paying it off for an awfully long time.
