John Pryor AREINZ - Kawau Island's & the Greater Kawau Bay's Resident Property Specialists

What is Kawau land worth?


The occupation of selling property on Kawau is always fascinating interesting and usually enjoyable,- not the least part of which is the people you meet and the expectations they have of the island. Newcomers to the place usually have a wish list of the attributes they wish their dream property to have and to a greater or lesser extent, these influence the price they are willing to pay.

After a few years of listening to these priorities, I decided to try and firstly, itemise the different aspects that potential buyers wanted and secondly to attempt to attribute cash values to each of them.

To do this, I analysed sales on the island over the last five years, devised what I thought was a reasonable model to explain buyer behavior and then tested the model against real sales. Over the last twelve months, I have been further trialling and modifying it to the stage where I believe that it is now a reasonably accurate method of assessing the market value of land on Kawau at the present time.

The basic premise of the model is that there is a notional base property value, to which can be added amounts for each of the positive attributes that buyers desire and from which deductions can be made for any negative attributes that buyers do not want.


The definition of the hypothetical base property is as follows:

A single title, vacant lot, able to have a residence built on it, having a minimum average slope of 30 degrees, being at least 5 minutes walk from the water, not north facing and not subdivisable.

At the present time, I give this base property a value of $35,000

Attributes which appear to add value to the base property, in no particular order, are as follows:

1. Road Access, i.e. Serviced by a road or roads which start at a wharf.
2. Significant water views. By this I mean more than a mere glimpse of the water,- a water view to be enjoyed.
3. Significant flat land. Usually sufficient to build on and not the usual Kawau hill side.
4. Good Sun. Not necessarily north facing but certainly enjoying reasonable sunshine all year.
5. Near or on the water. Most people coming to an island want to be on the water. this can be a tidal situation.
6. Non-Tidal. Having water in front of the property at all stages of the tide.
7. Shared wharf access. i.e. not a private wharf, not exclusive to the property.
8. Good Bush. Attractive canopy trees, Kauri, Puriri, Karaka etc. More than Manuka & Kanuka.
9. Shared Pontoon. Moana Creek style.
10. Private Wharf. Exclusive to the property with no other users.
11. Good Sandy Beach. No mud no mangroves, no rocks.
12. North West Coast. Any property between Beaumont Point and Kawhiti Point.

Attributes which appear to de-value a property are as follows:

1. Slope greater than 70 degrees. Cliff type situation
2. Difficult access. Properties that are both difficult and/or arduous to get to.

So, in order to assess the value of any piece of Kawau land, I start with the base value of $35,000 (assuming it meets the minimum base criteria) and then add or subtract the values determined for each of the attributes it possesses. For confidentiality reasons, I am not giving the values here but I would be happy to provide individual examples to anybody who is interested.

The total represents the estimated value of the land and access features (wharves, pontoons etc.) but does not include buildings or other improvements. It is also time specific, although I do adjust the base value in line with actual increases in land value and do watch for changes in buyer emphasis which may alter individual weightings.

This is not a foolproof method of assessing values, but does appear to provide accurate results in 85-90% of cases. It certainly is a very useful tool when appraising property values for clients.

As mentioned above, I would be happy to prepare an example based on any property on the island for anybody who may be interested.