First Home Buyers ALERT: Houses in this scenic village sell for under $200k

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PHOTO: Waipori Falls. FILE

In Waipori Falls you can buy a house in the bush for less than the deposit for an average Auckland home. George Driver investigates why.

It’s paradise on paper. Waipori Falls village clings to the side of a forested ravine, surrounded by a Doc reserve. Its 30 houses are stacked on a zigzag of streets, looking out onto a waterfall that gives the town its name – and the power station that provided its reason for existence. There’s a town hall, but nothing else.

Up the road there’s the scenic Lake Mahinerangi and rolling high country leading to the black schist torres, gold tussock and big sky of Central Otago. Down the road is the green Taieri Plains, leading to the east coast and Dunedin, about 50 minutes’ drive away.

But Waipori Falls’ biggest attraction isn’t its nature, landscape or isolation. It may be the most affordable place in the country. You can buy a house there for less than a deposit on an average Auckland home. Right now you could have the choice of two houses: a 90m2 1980s home on Morepork Lane for about $150,000; or a 100m2 “idyllic retreat” on Village Loop Road for $175,000, which has the distinction of being perhaps the only house in the country where its proximity to Mosgiel is a selling point.

**Waipori Falls (Photo: Daniel Williamson)**

But looking at recent sales, even these low prices may be a tad optimistic. In May, a 100m2 house sold for $112,000. In August last year, a 1955 two-bedroom on Morepork Lane went for $133,000. A quick TradeMe search reveals little competition in this price bracket. There’s a flood-damaged home in Westport for $120,000, or a former shop in a Southland town called Ohai (near a place called Tinkertown) that’s been converted into a one-bedroom house where everything is open plan.

For those searching for a bargain, Waipori looks like a no-brainer. But is it?

There is a catch…

Waipori Falls was built to house workers at the nearby power stations and it was owned and run by the council-owned Dunedin Electricity Ltd. The company maintained the roads and the three waters, while the workers paid a popcorn rent and got free power. It had a school, heated swimming pool, a post office, general store, a fire station, and for 70 years a few dozen families called the place home.