Buyers quick to snap up sections in Lynmore subdivision

NEW: The entrance of the new subdivision, Lynmore Lake Vista.

Eleven of the last 12 sites available in the new subdivision Lynmore Lake Vista have gone under the hammer.

More than 50 interested parties attended the auction on this week which saw the sale of the last of Rotorua's first residential subdivision to be classified for low density environmentally-conscious housing under the city's proposed new development plan.

Prices paid for the sites ranged between $156,000 to $267,500 and all were bought by individual buyers.

Of the 11 sections sold at the auction, 10 were bought by Rotorua residents. The remaining site was bought by an Aucklander who is moving to Rotorua with his family to begin a new life.

Negotiations on the remaining site are taking place with two potential buyers who were at the auction but did not bid.

The auctioneer was television celebrity Blair Cashmore, one of the Bayleys auctioneers who appeared on The Block New Zealand last year selling one of the four homes live on television.

Bayleys Rotorua manager Beth Millard said the near-total sell- off reflected not only strong demand for quality sections in the city's urban fringe, but also a vote of confidence in the region's steadily improving economy.

"It's one of the most rewarding auctions I've ever been involved with in 22 years of selling real estate in this city.

"The nervous tension in the auction room was simply electric - it must have been like being at Eden Park to watch the Black Caps beating the South Africans on Tuesday night," Ms Millard said.

"Rotorua, like many New Zealand cities, is growing out and as it does, people are taking the opportunity to move from CBD-fringe suburbs to bigger sections in newer urban belt developments."

Ms Millard said moving into a new subdivision such as Lynmore Lake Vista allowed people to have custom-built homes "containing modern amenities not usually found in more mature dwellings".

"The Lynmore Lake Vista Estate development has been a real slow-burner in terms of its sell-down, spanning some 11 years.

"However, with these 12 sections being the absolute last sites available, it really was the final opportunity people had to buy into this subdivision. From an economic perspective, this is great news for Rotorua. People are so confident of the city's future they want to invest considerable sums of money, taking a long-term stake in where they want to be based."