The Coast housing boom ground to a halt as coal prices went into freefall and mines began closing. A huge glut of houses was listed for sale, with some taking years to shift.
Realestate.co.nz figures out yesterday show there are now 390 houses for sale on the Coast, down 26.8% on a year ago.
The inventory of listings is sitting at 40 weeks, down markedly on the long term average of 116 weeks.
Sale prices in May were up 25.9% on April to an average house price of $291,108 on the West Coast.
ASB Bank said in its quarterly update today that the number of houses for sale had been dropping sharply.
"What is eye-popping is that the Coast's house sales growth for the full year is continuing to sit in top spot.
"Is some entrepreneur (or minister) buying up homes and shipping them to Auckland? As yet this mysterious phenomenon is not yet being reflected in house prices, but that could just be a matter of time," bank economists said.
Greg Daly Real Estate agent Deedee Daly said her first market now was people from Nelson and Blenheim.
"They feel prices here are more affordable. They are selling up large to be mortgage-free."
The next group was ex-Coasters moving back - these were a range of ages, but the majority were a bit older.
Thirdly, it was people moving around town.
"I had open homes at the weekend and got bombarded," Mrs Daly said.
Property Brokers area manager Gail Dyeming said it was currently a busy market for sales, with 70% of buyers local people.
About 30% were coming from away and these were "pretty much an even mix of those transferring into the area for work or moving for a change of lifestyle and investors buying into the area".
Despite the housing boom, ASB said the West Coast economy had slipped from 15th to 13th in the quarter, due partly to soft car registrations and building consent numbers, as well as visitor numbers.
The quarter included the period when the highway was washed out at Franz Josef Glacier, denting visitor numbers.
- By Laura Mills