Kiwi dream closer with beach bargains

Beach-lovers can bag a bach bargain in Whangamata as "price reduced" is written in red across more than half of the listings in the real estate office's window.

First National agent Julian West says the reality is some baches were now on sale for a lot less than the sellers originally had hoped to get in today's tough market, and in some cases they had been slashed by around $100,000. In one case the price had been cut by a quarter of a million from the original asking price.

Whangamata is not alone. On Trade Me, bach prices in Northland are down 15 per cent on last year, with smaller drops in Nelson, Tasman and the Waikato, says spokeswoman Stephanie Welsh.

West said some Whangamata baches had been for sale for more than a year and sellers were keen to get offers and negotiate.

He said it was an absolute buyer's market at the beachside town and "a very, very good time to buy". This was a complete switch from five years ago when sellers used to name their prices.

People were selling for a variety of reasons, West said. Some were looking to upgrade to another house, others wanted to release cash, while some had tired of travelling to the beach and were looking for "a new adventure".

"The bulk of the houses are second or third houses to outside of Whangamata owners - people in places like Hamilton, Rotorua, Tauranga and Auckland," he said. Very few were mortgagee sales and desperate to sell.

Baches priced between $200,000 and $350,000 were the most sought-after and were easiest to sell, but those in the higher price ranges had a smaller number of interested potential buyers.