ABOUT THE WEST COAST

The West Coast is the most affordable region in New Zealand to purchase a property. A home in the area was priced, on average, at $379,520 in October 2021, compared with the national average of $933,135. New home builders are spoilt for choice and can choose to build in small country towns or on rural properties and lifestyle blocks.

The West Coast is a laid-back, welcoming region that boasts stunning scenery and countless recreational activities and has been included in the “Top 10 Coastal Drives of the World” by Lonely Planet. The region has wild coastlines, mountains and a very high proportion of native bush, much of it native temperate rain forest and is the only part of New Zealand where significant tracts of lowland forest remain.

Top attractions in the West Coast include the Haast Pass (a World Heritage area), Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, Hokitika Gorge, Lake Brunner, the Pancake Rocks at Punakaiki, the Oparara Arches and the Heaphy Track. The region is increasingly attracting serious mountain bikers, surfers and kayakers. Fishing, hunting and skiing are popular and the West Coast Wilderness trail offers locals and visitors some of the most stunning and diverse scenery available in New Zealand.

The region has the only New Zealand nesting place of the kotuku (white heron), near Okarito Lagoon, visited by tours from the small farming township of Whataroa. The West Coast is New Zealand’s only source of greenstone (pounamu), with the boulders found in the West Coast rivers.

Notable annual events on the West Coast include the Hokitika Wild Food Festival, held each year in March, the Ride the Wilderness bike ride in November, the Driftwood and Sand Beach Sculpture Festival on Hokitika Beach in January, the Westport Whitebait Festival in October, the Coast to Coast multi-sport event in February and the Old Ghost Ultra Marathon, held a week after the Coast to Coast event.

While the job market is the region is small, local economic development initiatives have contributed to one of New Zealand’s lowest rates of unemployment. Major industries in the region include mining for coal and alluvial gold, forestry and wood processing, fishing, tourism and farming, particularly dairying. Other industries are the manufacturing and sales of greenstone jewellery, sphagnum moss gathering and stone-collection for garden landscaping. The famous Monteith’s brewery, the original home of craft brewing in New Zealand, is in Greymouth.

Employment on the West Coast grew strongly throughout 2021, with a 2.0% regional increase compared to the national decline of 0.1%. The West Coast’s growth has been broad based, led by health care, manufacturing, public administration and agriculture.

There are 36 primary and secondary schools located throughout the West Coast, while vocationally- oriented tertiary education is available from Tai Poutini Polytechnic, based at Greymouth with campuses at Westport, Reefton and Hokitika.