A two bedroom, one bathroom home on a back half section in Whangamata in late August had 14 bidders at auction and went for $1 million.

'We've got way more buyers than stock at the moment, it's a sellers' market,” says Ray White agent Lindsay Turnbull.

The most active house hunters are coming from places like Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga to the popular surf beach destination, saysTurnbull.

People are ideally looking for three bedroom, two bathroom homes close to the beach, she says.

Properties in these locations would go for as much as $2 million, if further back from the beach, they'd be more like $800,000, she says.

Trade Me Property has seen searches in the entire Thames-Coromandel region increase by 111 per cent in August, compared with the same time last year.

Meanwhile, in the Coromandel town of Matarangi, as soon as a bach comes up in the $500,000 to $700,000 range, the busiest part of the market, it's gone in a few days, says Keith Goodall from Richardsons.

'People can't travel overseas and money's cheap to borrow,” he explains. And they're making big life decisions as a consequence.

Goodall recently helped a couple who were living in Gulf Harbour and commuting into Auckland.

They've decided to buy an apartment in Auckland and a beach house in the Coromandel instead.