– Iconic pub re-opens after owner abandons sale – ‘didn\u2019t feel right’<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cThe interest rates coming back have been helping, but there\u2019s still just not a lot of buyer confidence, and there are so many listings.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think everyone\u2019s been doing it a bit hard, so people don\u2019t have as much spare cash to spend, and a lot of our buyers come from Auckland, so if the Auckland market is a bit tight and they\u2019re not getting as good a price for their houses, well then, they don\u2019t come up and buy.\u201d<\/p>\n
It takes about four-and-a-half hours to drive from Auckland to the Karikari Peninsula, where the median house price is $647,000.<\/p>\n
For $700,000, Vieviorka said a buyer could get \u201csomething quite nice\u201d \u2013 a house with three bedrooms and possibly two bathrooms.<\/p>\n
Nearby Coopers Beach and Cable Bay Beach had been a magnet for retirees and Aucklanders, Vieviorka said.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0f9e25e2fc804c69c107e1e54cf14df4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Vieviorka recently sold this three-bedroom home in Cable Bay, in the Far North, for $890,000. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
\u201cDefinitely, Coopers Beach is more popular, always has been. It\u2019s developed more because it\u2019s handier to all the amenities. It\u2019s just been a bit more popular because it\u2019s a bit easier to get to Kerikeri, a bit easier to get to Kaitaia, and there are a few more shops there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nearby Mang\u014dnui has cafes and a boat ramp, whereas at the peninsula, boaties have to launch off the beach. \u201cBut I think people are starting to realise one of the things about the peninsula is you have all the beaches handy,\u201d Vieviorka said.<\/p>\n
Visitors were spoilt for choice with the sweeping Tokerau Beach overlooking Doubtless Bay, Matai Bay, Karikari Beach and Rangiputa Beach all on hand.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a lifestyle block of about 5000sqm, close to the coast and with a three-bedroom house, could go for around $750,000. \u201cI just sold one in Taipa, close to the village … a few minutes down to Taipa Beach. That was only six hectares,\u201d Vieviorka said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt had a house on it \u2013 three bedrooms, and it had an unconsented three-bedroom unit as well, self-contained. Didn\u2019t have sea views from the main house, but there was another building site that had sea views \u2013 you could see Doubtless Bay \u2013 mainly covered in Pine Trees. That just sold for $745,000.\u201d<\/p>\n
The diverse Far North, with its remote, backwater lifestyle blocks without power to white sand beaches with magnificent views across the South Pacific Ocean in the east and the Tasman Sea in the west, created a property market with a range of prices.<\/p>\n
Inland, at Kaingaroa, a five-hectare lifestyle block with an older house, a unit and a shed recently sold for $480,000 while the median house price in Kaitaia was about $400,000.<\/p>\n
Vieviorka said while the district attracted holidaymakers as well as retirees relocating permanently for the warm climate, there was also buyer interest from expat Kiwis returning home from Australia.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve seen a few buyers from Christchurch too lately, coming up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Far North encompasses the beautiful Bay of Islands in the south up to Cape Reinga in the north, and dozens of stunning beaches and bays in between, as well as the small hubs of Kaikohe and Kaitaia and the main centre of Kerikeri.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main attractions are the beaches, the fishing and diving, and the hunting,\u201d Vieviorka said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re into walking, there are trails and native bush. I think a lot of people move north for the lifestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n
– Click here to find more properties for sale in the Far North<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"– The Far North property market is a buyer\u2019s market, with many listings on the Karikari Peninsula. –…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,1258,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-220144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-latest-news","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1e2d6c61c51dbb7e926817b5ffbf14de.jpg\")
<\/p>\n