Pauanui: Pontoon at your door

Welcome aboard the Pauanui Waterways.

You don't get much change from a million dollars on the Pauanui Waterways these days - but four newly built apartments on the canals come with a price tag under that mark.

These are the first apartments on the Waterways development selling at $799,000 for a three-bedroom unit and $849,000 for a four-bedroom dwelling.

Malcolm Fowler of Richardsons Real Estate, Pauanui, says the last four-bedroom house he sold in the Waterways, on a 700sq m section, went for $1.39 million. "Looking at that, these apartments are fantastic value," he says.

The units are architecturally designed and open directly to the canal frontage. They're designed to appeal to boaties who want to step straight out to their boats. The units share a boat ramp, and once launched the boat can be tied up to a floating pontoon at the front of each unit.

The apartments are clad in a blend of local schist stone columns and concrete block, plaster and cedar weatherboards. Inside, the floors are polished concrete and the kitchen features granite benchtops. Living areas, the kitchen and the master bedroom are downstairs, opening directly to the canal, while the rest of the bedrooms and main bathroom are upstairs.

Fowler believes they will appeal to people who want a holiday home, but don't want to spend their time maintaining another property.

"The attraction of Pauanui is that it's two hours or less from Auckland, Hamilton or Tauranga. When you get here, you've got the ocean, estuary and the canals, as well as an 18-hole golf course. I always say to people to think of it not just as an investment but as an asset to your lifestyle, a real break from city life."

One of the developers of the apartments, Perry Knight, says the main feature of the units is the floating marina at your door - and the fact that they are virtually half the price of a house on the Waterways.

Vital Statistics

ADDRESS: Lots 223 and 224, Waterways Pde, Stage 2, Pauanui Waterways.

FEATURES: Four architecturally designed units with absolute canal frontage, shared boat ramp and pontoon to tie a boat to; choice of three or four-bedroom units, all with en suite and main bathroom.

SIZE: Three-bedroom floorplan 180sq m; four-bedroom floorplan 205sq m.

PRICE: Three-bedroom unit $799,000; four-bedroom unit $849,000.

AGENTS: Malcolm Fowler and Andrew Gibson, Richardsons Real Estate, Pauanui. Ph Malcolm 021 964 644 mob; Andrew 021 701 172 mob.