Tauranga Mayor Mahe Drysdale is yet to move to the city he leads because he says he can’t find a home in his desired school zone.

After being elected in July, Drysdale said he would commute from his current hometown of Cambridge, but aimed to be living in Tauranga by the end of the year.

A ratepayers' representative said the mayor needed to move to Tauranga “to live up to his truths”.

Drysdale lives in Cambridge with his wife, Juliette, and their three primary school-aged children, but finding a house within their preferred school zone in Tauranga was “proving to be very challenging”, the mayor said.

Drysdale told Local Democracy Reporting the couple were still working on their housing situation.

“The schools are all overloaded. You’ve got to buy in zone or rent in zone and trying to find houses to either rent or buy in the school zones that we’re keen on is proving to be very challenging.”

Drysdale would not say which school zones they wanted to live in but said they had made the schools they were interested in aware of their situation.

The couple were “actively searching” and would move to Tauranga as soon as they found a home, he said.

“We continue to actively look for a suitable home, but as yet (despite a couple of offers) we have been unable to secure one.”

Mount Maunganui is a popular suburb for its schools, says Jon O'Connor of Bayleys. Photo / Mead Norton

Bayleys residential sales and projects manager Bay of Plenty Jon O’Connor said Tauranga had several suburbs traditionally sought after because of school zoning.

These included The Avenues, Tauranga South and Mount Maunganui.

“However, the same can be said for most of our inner-city suburbs.

“We understand our schools’ rolls are under increasing pressure as more people relocate to the sunny Bay of Plenty from other regions.”

Housing stock was also “lighter than usual” because of strong sales at the end of 2024, said O’Connor.

All but five schools in Tauranga were projected to grow in 2025, according to the Ministry of Education’s provisional school roll data from late January.

Ministry Te Tai Whenua (Central) hautū (deputy secretary) Jocelyn Mikaere said the ministry did not have official classroom capacity information.

Most schools in Tauranga were zoned and might operate ballots if they had additional capacity for out-of-zone students, she said.

Tremains Tauranga director and head of sales Hayden Duncan said that in his experience people in the Bay of Plenty were more driven by lifestyle choices than school zones when buying homes.

“Within Tauranga, one thing we are spoiled for [choice] is an amazing selection of high-quality schools, both public and private.”

He said the city didn’t have issues like the sought-after Double Grammar School zone in Auckland that pushed up house prices.

“I’m sure there are some people that buy into specific school zones, but not enough to drive values up in one particular area over another.”

Mount Maunganui Ratepayers, Residents and Retailers Association president Michael O'Neill. Photo / Alex Cairns

Mount Maunganui Ratepayers, Residents and Retailers Association president Michael O’Neill said it came back to the mayor’s commitment to the people that he would move here.

“If it doesn’t happen then the locals are going to see that as a bit of electioneering, a mistruth you could say. Therefore, that level of trust and respect starts to deteriorate.

“You really want a local who understands the people, mixes and works with the people to be representing your needs at the council table.”

“He said he would shift here, he said he’d do it ASAP, and he needs to make that happen, in my view. He needs to live up to his truths.”

Drysdale grew up in Tauranga and said he stayed with his mum in Mount Maunganui during the week, so he wasn’t commuting daily.

It was a “pretty easy commute” from Cambridge, he said, and one he did before becoming mayor when he was a financial adviser at Forsyth Barr in Tauranga.

Drysdale joked with Pāpāmoa ward councillor Steve Morris that on a bad day, Morris’ commute to the city centre was worse because it could take an hour or more.

It was hard from a family perspective because he wasn’t around as much as he’d like, said Drysdale.

Juliette and their children would come to stay during the week and if the couple had weekend commitments.

“[We’re] trying to make the best of it, but it’ll be ideal when we’re all back in the same city together.”

“Our whānau is committed to moving to Tauranga.

“It’s a significant move to uproot your family, and when we do secure a suitable property, we will make that move.”

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.