New Zealand holiday homes shrug off global financial crisis

Omaha Beach, one of the leading summer playgrounds for New Zealand's rich and famous, has secured a recent NZ$3 million (A$2.95 million) sale price, a record for the northern end of Omaha.

The concrete block and cedar, three bedroom, two bathroom retreat pad bought by an Auckland family through Bayleys agent Mark Macky.

He told the New Zealand Herald the record price was evidence prices on the seaside spit had bounced back from the global financial crisis.

Omaha Beach is one of the leading playgrounds for New Zealand's rich and famous including Prime Minister John Key, former Team New Zealand skipper Dean Barker, and one of New Zealand's wealthiest women, Diane Foreman - a popular area because it is less than an hour from Auckland.

James Wilson of Quotable Value noted the Auckland coastal holiday market showed signs of strengthening but the gains were modest compared to residential areas in Auckland.

The recent NZ$3 million sale price for the 'bach' in sand dunes at 39 The Southern Isle at the northern end of Omaha showed it is closing in on the flashier southern end where prices already top NZ$4 million (A$3.93 million), the paper reported.

Fringed by pohotukawa trees, the house was a stylish award winning Lindy Leuschke contemporary design built in 2006 offering single level living some 20 paces though the dunes brings you to that spectacular white sandy beach.