Owner ‘gobsmacked’ as Tauranga townhouse sells for $100k more than CV in ‘flip-floppy’ market

Sunday, 7 June 2026

Agent Ellyn Brunskill outside the townhouse she sold in Tauranga at 17B Selwyn Street.

A two-bedroom Tauranga townhouse has sold at auction for $865,000, which is $110,000 more than its official capital value.

The property drew competitive bidding from three active buyers during a three-week marketing campaign, surprising real estate agents.

The sale is evidence of the strength of renovated homes in Tauranga, which is experiencing a complex local property market.

Tauranga townhouse has sold for $110,000 above its capital value, a result that surprised even the agent who sold it.

The two bedroom townhouse at 17B Selwyn Street had been renovated throughout.

Probably the bigger story is what it reveals about a local property market that remains flat, but is producing fierce competition for the right homes.

Ray White Tauranga agent Ellyn Brunskill recently sold a two bedroom townhouse for $865,000 after a three week campaign. The property's CV was $755,000 and three bidders competed at auction.

“The owner and I were absolutely gobsmacked and delighted!” says Brunskill.

The Ray White agent believes it’s down to demand for lower-priced homes, renovated homes, the role of auctions, and low supply.

'We are currently seeing a very low inventory market.. currently, there’s just over 1,100 properties are on the market in all of Tauranga, which results in higher competition…'

Yet despite standout sales, Tauranga's housing market remains broadly flat.

Cotality data shows values are up 1.7% over the year to May, and down 0.1% in the first three months of this year. The average selling price sits at $935,685.

Local agent for Bower, Hunter Cheetham, describes it as “flip floppy.”

'I don't think we've ever been in such a flip-floppy market, where one week we've got lots of buyers coming through lots of properties, but no one wants to make an offer, and then the next weekend we have half the numbers, but we have more people wanting to make offers… it's almost like every week is different.'

Why renovated homes are winning

Agents say buyers are gravitating toward homes that are finished and ready to move into in the $500,000 to $900,000 bracket.

“It's low maintenance, affordable, lock and leave and a good location,” says Brunskill.

This Tauranga home in Parkvale sold for nearly $300,000 more 6 months later, after being renovated.

Cheetham says buyers are telling him they want to avoid expensive renovation costs.

“People don't want to spend money if they don't have to…like to do a basic renovation with kitchens, bathrooms, carpet, and paint, you know, you can blow 100 grand quite easily.”

Recent sales appear to support that theory.

A fully renovated property at 455A Fraser Street in Parkvale just sold in around three weeks for just under $700,000 after changing hands for about $400,000 in December.

Agents say affordability means buyers’ idea of what Mount Maunganui is, keeps expanding out into a wider area.

Cheetham says renovated stock below $700,000 is a clear gap in the market.

“If you look around at what's for sale under 700k at the moment that is fully renovated, you almost won't find anything.”

This tidy home in Mount Maunganui’s Spur Avenue ended up attracting 13 bids at auction.

The Mount effect keeps spreading

Cheetham says buyer perceptions of what qualifies as 'the Mount' has widened into a larger area.

“Over time, the definition of what people consider ‘the Mount’ has just kept expanding. Streets that locals used to say ‘aren’t really the Mount’ are now very much part of it. That’s why a place like Spur Avenue can sell for just over $1.2 million, a price that would have been almost unthinkable there three years ago.”

He’s referring to a renovated property at 5A Spur Avenue that sold after just nine days on the market after a pre-auction offer brought the auction forward.

There were 13 additional bids before it sold for $1.215 million, $65,000 above the original pre auction offer.

“There's not a lot of options in that price bracket in the mount, and someone's just gone and paid what they had to pay to get it,” says Cheetham.

Trade Me Property customer director Gavin Lloyd says search data tells a similar story about the desirability of the surf beach side.

“Mount Maunganui, Papamoa, and Papamoa North are head and shoulders above the rest of Tauranga when it comes to what people are searching for in the area…then northern suburbs like Otumoetai, Matua and Bethlehem are the next cab off the rank.. they have good school zones and are still relatively close to the water.”

Auctions gaining ground

Tauranga is embracing auctions much more than the rest of the country.

Latest figures from REINZ show in the first three months of this year, 27.5% of house sales happened via auction.

Nationally, auctions accounted for just 14.1% of sales.

Agents all have different theories, but Brunskill says she’s selling around half her properties via auction at the moment.

“ A lot of people think most properties that go to auction get passed in, so they believe it doesn't work. That is just the beginning though. If we prioritise cash unconditional buyers first, and there are none for the auction or they don't meet the market at auction, we then prepare conditional interest to be ready for directly after the auction, often resulting in a multi-offer situation with conditional buyers. So the average time to sell at auction is roughly 35 days, in a 3 or 4 week campaign, this is quick. For all other methods, it falls around 49 to 65 days currently.”

Buyers still face an affordability squeeze in Tauranga

Cotality's latest figures show Tauranga is the country’s most unaffordable region.

The typical house in the area costs about 8.5 times the typical annual household income in the area.

Listings for waterfront homes at the Mount are up.

TradeMe’s Gavin Lloyd says that means buyers still have to compromise.

“You look at the average house price - it’s around a million dollars, not far off Auckland. So you’re going to have to look at different entry points to get in.”

Trade Me data shows 32% of searches in the area are now focused on medium density housing such as townhouses, apartments and units, above the national average.

And first home buyers are slightly less active in the area compared to the rest of the country. Westpac data shows they accounted for 23% of Tauranga purchases so far this year, below the national figure of 27.5%.

“I think there's a lot of people in the first home buyer market at the moment that are definitely out there looking,” says Cheetham. “But on a percentage basis, probably less of them transacting than that sort of older demographic.”

Lift in luxury listings

TradeMe says in 2025 it saw double the listings in the $10m category than it did in 2024. And this year, listings so far already matched the total for that entire year.

Sotheby's NZ managing director Mark Harris says the market is in a small, slow lift, along with the kiwifruit sector in the area. But rising interest rates are also impacting confidence.

“At the super-high end, ($10–20 million homes), interest rates are less significant, but in the $3, 5, 7 million band, they still play a significant role I think.”

“I think it's improving, not an accelerated pace, and that's a good thing, because no one wants to see, you know, these huge spikes and troughs.”

Email Stuff’s Chief Property Correspondent with your story: janika.terellen@stuffdigital.co.nz