Te Puke housing development Te Mania sells out first 45 homes

A "very significant" Te Puke housing development financially tailor-made for first-home buyers has already sold out its first release of house packages.

The appetite for affordable housing in the Te Puke area is believed to reflect the Bay of Plenty town's rising residential popularity and economic growth.

The Te Mania development on former kiwifruit land in Dunlop Rd is expected to provide about 400 medium-density homes and has been pitched as one answer to the local housing shortage.

The first 45 lots have already sold out, with construction due to start this month.

The development is being created by Flowerday Homes in collaboration with the Western Bay of Plenty District Council and Isthmus Group.

It is expected to include a mix of two, three and four-bedroom terrace, duplex and stand-alone homes.

Flowerday Homes director Rik Flowerday says the goal from the start was to create a place people would "love to live".

A commercial precinct was in the planning stages and could include a café, childcare centre, convenience store and several retail stores.

Flowerday Homes director Rik Flowerday told the Bay of Plenty Times planning for the development began nearly three years ago.

The goal from the start was to create a place people would "love to live".

"We're not just building homes, we're building a community."

"This brings much needed housing in Te Puke, we've got a housing shortage here and this development is a solution for that."

Flowerday said Te Mania had three-bedroom house packages for $699,000.

This was below the price cap for the Government's First Home Grant, which offers eligible buyers up to $10,000 towards their deposit.

The cap for new builds in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty is $875,000.

Local iwi Waitaha was consulted about naming the development and its streets, paying homage to their papakāinga or ancestral lands.

The Te Mania development in Te Puke. Photo / Stuart Whitaker

Te Mania is expected to include a children's playground, walkways around planted green spaces and a recreational reserve.

Flowerday said features such as wider pathways and a proposed cycleway direct to Te Puke's Cameron Rd made the subdivision "family friendly".

"These design elements are all considered and come back to creating an inclusive community for all ages and stages," Flowerday said.

"With the idea of the cycleway, we're wanting to give a way for children to go to school without having to go via the main road and the wider footpaths for mum pushing the pram and other kids in tow."

The first floor of the project was expected to be poured next week which he said was "awesome".

Te Puke Economic Development Group managing director Mark Boyle said Te Mania would help provide housing desperately needed to meet increasing demand.

There was "quite significant" growth in the kiwifruit industry and a strong primary, production and services sector, he said.

"We have more and more people that want to come live and work in Te Puke because of that growth so we need more housing," Boyle said.

Boyle said the group had raised the need for housing and related infrastructure with MPs and key Government entities such as Kāinga Ora and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

"We've made a real case for the need for infrastructure delivery for the housing required because of economic growth."

Boyle said Te Mania was "very significant" in helping to drive that economic growth and was great news for the township.

Te Puke Economic Development Group managing director Mark Boyle. Photo / Stuart Whitaker

"It's medium-density which is sensible. It's very family friendly. When we talk about growth and people coming and working in Te Puke, often they are families - middle New Zealanders," Boyle said.

"The way they've designed it... the way it's laid out. It's not high-density, it's not high-rises or limited space. It's what families want and need," Boyle said.

Te Puke was well positioned for such a development due to its proximity to Tauranga, Rotorua and Whakatāne plus amenities such as schools and attractions like cycleways, walkways and hunting," Boyle said.

"We think it's perfect.

"We are very enthusiastic about population growth. Through [this] we achieve economic growth. That creates jobs, enables the service industry to grow, then, of course, it creates more diversity and more family friendly things in a community like Te Puke."

He said as well as the industry "big dog" - kiwifruit - people were moving to Te Puke because it was a "business town".

"You walk down the main street any day and there's cars, trucks, people walking everywhere. It's got trading banks, supermarkets, a jewellery store. It's got things a lot of small towns don't.

Western Bay council development project facilitator Chris Watt said the 400 lots planned for Te Mania would not resolve the housing shortage but every home helped.

Te Puke and Ōmokoroa had been identified by the council as key housing growth areas in the Western Bay and the council was enabling new medium-density rules to support this.

A number of reserves were planned within the new Te Mania development.

Watt said that in the wider Te Puke community, the council had "big plans to meet the needs of the growing population".

This included a new aquatic centre in 2025 and a new library and council service centre planned for 2027.

The council was also working with the Ministry of Education to ensure there will be enough capacity within the education system to accommodate housing growth.

"Te Puke has a really bright future, with investment happening in and around the town," Watt said.

"[The] council is working... to develop a housing plan that's right for Te Puke and meets local needs including high quality homes at affordable prices to rent and own, especially for families and older people.

"And we're doing this while ensuring that Te Puke continues to be a great place to live."