Maureen Wahanui moved to Whanganui from the Wellington region and ended up buying the first house she saw in Springvale.
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"I had specific requirements in my mind when I came looking for a property here. I came for health reasons. I needed to come to a warmer climate."
The house she picked had a lot of open space and received plenty of sun.
"I am an outdoor person and the first house I saw ... I went on to look at 50 other houses, I came back to the first one and I bought it."
The space and the sun are two factors that make Springvale popular, but Property Brokers' Whanganui branch manager Philip Kubiak said the good schools were a big drawcard too.
"Springvale is traditionally regarded as a good suburb to buy and live in," he said.
"It's really just following on the coat-tails of the overall influx of out of towners into Whanganui.
"The affordability is still outstanding and if you couple that with the schooling and the zoning, flat central suburb, good modern housing - people are going to gravitate to that and when houses come on the market in Springvale they don't last long."
Wahanui said she had noticed houses around her selling fast and she advised a couple who had bought a house in Bulls to put their Springvale house on the market.
They had wanted to wait until December but she convinced them otherwise.
"I could see by what was being advertised that their house filled a sort of middle niche and I said no don't wait, do it now and so they did and it's sold [within three weeks]."
Kubiak said while sellers were having a good time of it, those who bought in the suburb were pleased with their choice.
"There's a lot of happy Springvale sellers that are either upgrading or downsizing if they're getting older and there's a lot of happy buyers.
"You've got young professional couples, young families - if they can get into Springvale with the schooling and the lovely park and all the facilities in the area, five minutes from town - well they're happy as well, everyone's a winner."
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