Coast Property: Making a home on the Coast
You don’t need to be a maths wizard to see the advantages of moving from Auckland to the South Island’s West Coast.
Auckland’s median house price is $850,000 compared to the Coast’s $200,000 — but those sums don’t touch on the other advantages the region has to offer.
No traffic or parking problems, plenty of space (around 23,000sq km with awe-inspiring landscapes and outdoor adventure activities), a record low unemployment rate (3.8 per cent), and a thriving tourism sector. Best of all those features don’t come at the expense of Big City must-haves such as fast broadband, an innovative business community, a thriving cafe culture, and a safe caring environment to live in.
Hokitika, Westport and Greymouth have excellent high schools and Greymouth-based Tai Poutini Polytech offers a wide range of technical study options. “We’re getting a lot of interest from Aucklanders to move to the West Coast,” says Kevin O’Donnell of Harcourts West Coast. “You can sell a house worth millions in Auckland, and buy a better quality home here for a fraction of that price, with the added bonus of the superior quality lifestyle the Coast offers.
To get an overview of Coast property, Bruce Smith catches up with Rob Maskill and asks how the property market is going in Greymouth, checks out why so many ex Coasters are heading home, how available are rental properties and a whole lot more.
