– The newly opened Te Ahu a Turanga: Manawatū Tararua Highway is boosting Woodville’s economy.
– Local businesses report increased sales and foot traffic, with cafes and shops benefitting from the through traffic.
– Woodville’s property market is also thriving, with rising house prices and increased interest in commercial properties.
A charming North Island town cut off from tourist dollars for eight long years is staging a comeback, agents have told OneRoof.
The closure of the Manawatu Gorge Road in 2017, thanks to two landslides, was a kick in the guts for Woodville and its 1700-odd residents.
The road had been the main commuter route between Manawatu and Hawke’s Bay, and as traffic fell sharply, businesses in the town lost out. Cafes and shops closed, and house prices retreated.
However, locals are optimistic that the newly opened Te Ahu a Turanga: Manawatū Tararua Highway from Woodville to Palmerston North will turn things around.
Woodville’s high street in the moonlight. Photo / Getty Images
Around 9000 cars a day use the new road, and several Woodville businesses told OneRoof they were already benefitting from the through traffic.
Leigh-Ann Powell, who co-owns Café 88 in town, told OneRoof that sales were on the up as a result of the new road, so much so that she was looking at opening a coffee cart to handle the extra custom. It’s a big change from last year, when the business was struggling to pay its staff.
Property Brokers agent Jude Challies told OneRoof that she had heard that sales of takeaway coffee in another outlet had jumped from 600 a week to 2000.
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Things were also looking up for the town’s property market. “I’ve had quite a lot of enquiries from people looking for commercial property on the main street. There’s a lot more confidence in the town now,” she said.
“The cafés are 1759428254 bustling, the footpaths have a lot more people wandering around town, and because we have so many antique shops and second-hand stores, it makes for a great day out.”
“It feels like we are now a destination town, and the weekends are humming. Busloads of people are stopping at the cafés, and the car parks are full.
“We expect that to increase over the summer. I know we will see a lot more hikers and bikers using the new highway and coming to town to recharge before heading back over the hill to the Manawatū.”
The newly opened Te Ahu a Turanga: Manawatū Tararua Highway is credited for a revival in Woodville’s fortunes. Photo / Getty Images
Woodville’s housing market is also heading into what is likely to be a hot spring and summer. The latest OneRoof house price figures show that the town’s average property value of $467,000 at the end of September was 12.5% higher than it was a year ago.
Challies has two unusual residential listings up for grabs at the upper end of the town’s property market: a converted church for sale for $750,000-plus, and a nine-bedroom former maternity home that’s looking for $949,000.
Rick Rankin, owner of the converted church at 77 McLean Street, bought it as an empty shell in 2018.
The builder had just returned to Wellington from decades of working in Australia, and couldn’t afford to live in Ngaio, where he grew up. He hit the road looking for a do-up project and came across a former Methodist church.
A converted church at 77 McLean Street is on the market for $750,000-plus. Photo / Supplied
The vendor turned the former Methodist Church building into a smart three-bedroom home. Photo / Supplied
“I started coming up the island and I saw the church for sale, and it took me five seconds to say, ‘Yep, I’ll have it’,” Rankin told OneRoof.
Over the years, he turned the building into a three-bedroom, three-bathroom home with a mezzanine floor. “I fully stripped it out, put Batts in the ceiling, walls, and underneath, and re-lined it.”
A two-minute drive away is Challies’ other listing, 136 Vogel Street.
She said Woodville House was a landmark in the town. The nine-bedroom property, which sits on 3523sqm of land, used to be a maternity ward and an elderly care facility, but is now looking to start a new chapter.
“A true credit to the current owner, Woodville House has been lovingly restored to its former glory, showcasing timeless materials and true craftsmanship,” the agent said in her listing on OneRoof. “This is a rare opportunity to own a piece of Woodville’s heritage, a magnificent home any owner would be proud to possess.”
Looking for $189,000-plus is a portable cabin on 1330sqm at 115 Vogel Street. Photo / Supplied
Property Brokers agent Patrick Baker, who also sells in Woodville, has a listing at the other end of the scale: a one-bedroom 27sqm cabin that’s looking for buyers with $189,000-plus to spend.
Baker said 115 Vogel Street had attracted the attention of first-home buyers, but because the dwelling was just a portable cabin, getting a mortgage wasn’t easy. “It’s land value,” he said. “That makes it harder for first-home buyers. There’s a structure on the site, but it’s not a house.”
Despite those challenges, Baker had received an offer on the property.
Baker said now that the new road was open, out-of-town buyers were returning. “In the last couple of months, I sold one property to a young guy from Fielding, and another to a couple from Palmerston North. They’re coming from the Manawatū,” he said.
“That new road has changed the whole dynamics of Woodville. There’s so much traffic coming through now.”
He added: “There are two big cafés in Woodville. My wife and I went to one the other day, and couldn’t get a seat. That’s something we’re not used to in our little town.”