The top end of the housing market felt the crunch this year. OneRoof’s analysis of settled sales data shows just five homes – all in Auckland - sold for $10 million and above in the nine months to the end September. Three times as many homes fetched eight-figure sums over the same period last year.
The big-ticket purchases centred around the traditional wealthy Auckland suburbs of Remuera, Orakei, Parnell and Saint Marys Bay.
Wealthy buyers were spoiled for choice, with plenty of trophy homes hitting the market in the first three months of the year. But the lift in listings didn’t turn into a lift in house prices. Many of the prestige homes listed this year were quietly withdrawn from market or had their prices cut.
Some are likely to be relisted next year, when the market is more favourable.
Start your property search
Agents spoken to by OneRoof had different theories as to why sales at the top level were down, though most indicated the people who buy and sell in the “rarefied air” at the top of the real estate chain were not particularly impacted by the economy, nor by what the rest of the market was doing.
The highest price paid was a cool $21.84m for an Italian-style stone mansion on Paritai Drive, Orakei – one of Auckland’s wealthiest streets and one of two properties in the top 10 on the trophy street.
A local family claimed the 813sqm five-bedroom home amid strong interest from international buyers, including Singaporeans, who are excluded from the foreign buyer ban.
While the locals paid a hefty sum, the price is still some way off the suburb record of $38.5m paid for the former Hotchin mansion 11 years ago.
The deal was completed by Paul and Jonathan Sissons, of New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty. Paul told OneRoof he was aware of other sales in the works that could still beat his record – but he was pretty sure he and Jonathan held one of the best tender processes for the year, saying the six-week campaign closed at 4pm on March 16 with the deal done by 8.30pm.
That’s partly because vendors at that level know what they want, have done their research and are good to deal with.
“They get where they are by being good, solid, clever businesspeople who know the value of a dollar and they know when they see the right property and fall in love with it and they don’t mess around.”
The top settled sale of 2024 as of September 2024 - a mansion on Paritai Drive, in Auckland's Orakei, which sold for $21.84m. Photo / Supplied
The buyer of this Paritai Drive mansion will likely bowl it despite paying $9.5m. Photo / Supplied
The house stood out for key reasons, one being the “to die for” 180-degree view from the city to Waiheke Island. Another was the “magnificence” of the house itself, and another was the garage – this was no ordinary oil-stained garage but one with tiled floors and room for a lot of cars.
“People have a lot of beautiful cars and we had garaging for at least seven, possibly eight, and it was a beautiful garage.”
Paul did not think the lower number of high price bracket sales this year had anything to do with market conditions. Rather, a busy year at the top end one year probably just meant fewer quality homes in circulation the next year.
People stayed in such homes in generational cycles, waiting for the children to grow up and leave for good before downsizing, he said.
Coming in at number seven on the list was the other Paritai Drive property, which sold for nearly $10m.
OneRoof reported in May the buyers were unlikely to keep the big home in its current form, despite the big price tag.
Barfoot & Thompson agent Lawrence Yuan told OneRoof: “They’ll renovate or bowl. They bought it for the view.”
This grand dame on Orakei Road, in Auckland's Remuera, smashed the all-time auction record with a $12.8m sale. Photo / Supplied
Second in the top 10 was a grand Arts & Craft property on Orakei Road, Remuera, which smashed the residential auction record in a matter of minutes, selling under the hammer for $12.8m.
Barfoot & Thompson agents Linda Galbraith and Cindy Yu marketed the luxurious home with pool and tennis court in Auckland’s prized double grammar zone.
Galbraith said while not that many people viewed the house, the right people did, resulting in five bidders at the auction, hence the great result.
Real estate this year had been like fighting through a long and steady storm, she said, but Remuera had punched above its weight because of the generational flow back to the area by people with ties to the suburb.
She mused one reason for the fewer $10m-plus sales this year could be because younger people’s dreams were changing. She had noticed rather than wanting to pour all their money into one big house people wanted enough left over to fund a holiday home in Coromandel or Queenstown.
The buyer of this near-$12m luxury villa on Remuera's Victoria Avenue had been looking for a long time for the right home. Photo / Supplied
“I think this generation has a different attitude – ‘I want a beach house, I want to have my holidays, I want a reasonable house in the city and I don’t want to have to crimp my lifestyle’.”
Several other Remuera properties also made the top 10, with two of them in coveted Victoria Avenue.
At number four was a large villa sold by Richard Thode and Rae Zhang, of Ray White Epsom, for $11.915m (Barfoot & Thompson agents Leila and David MacDonald were co-listing agents).
OneRoof reported in March there was strong interest in the house with its distinctive turret,1598sqm of hedged grounds and new saltwater swimming pool.
Number six was a Victoria Ave house which once belonged to TV personality Louise Wallace and which is understood to have been sold privately for $9.675m.
Number ten, on Ridings Road, was sold by Gary and Vicki Wallace of Bayleys for $9.3m.
Gary Wallace told OneRoof the year had been a challenging one across price bands – but for people with a high net worth challenging is all relative.
This trophy home on Victoria Avenue sold for $9.675m in a private deal. Photo / Supplied
This traditional Remuera spread on Ridings Road sold for $9.3m. Photo / Supplied
The Ridings Road property was on Remuera’s northern slopes with sweeping harbour views. Wallace said it was a fantastic family home which had been meticulously rebuilt and which ticked many boxes for buyers, hence the strong demand.
Such homes were premium addresses with great local amenities nearby and close to good schools.
“Just quality neighbourhoods and those sorts of properties always attract buyers that potentially sit in that price range.”
While the central Auckland suburbs dominated, number three on the list was a ferry ride away on Waiheke Island.
The vineyard home of another former broadcaster, John Hawkesby, sold for $12m, more than double its 2021 CV and still the island’s highest 2024 sale at the time of writing.
Broadcaster John Hawkesby got plenty of attention - and $12m - for his home on Waiheke Island, Auckland - $12m. Photo / Supplied
Hawkesby’s grandson, Ray White agent Jackson Hawkesby-Lyne, sold the property with his father Richard Lyne.
Hawkesby-Lyne told OneRoof he had a few pangs about the sale of a magical place where he once played in a tree house, but it was a great result in a tough market.
Properties such as this were rare and tended to sit in a submarket of their own, he said, but the buyers had indicated they would carry on the legacy of the property, which was “pretty cool”.
“That property is really part of the landscape and it’s special so it’s good to see it will just be kept that way.”
Queenstown took out the number eight spot, with the $9.5m sale of an Arrowtown-Lake Hayes Road property by Terry Spice and Nick Horton, of Luxury Real Estate.
Their marketing described the property, a penthouse apartment designed by architect Andrew Patterson in The Elms on the shores of Lake Hayes, as re-defining lakefront living in Queenstown.
One of the new-build trophy homes to make a mark in Queenstown-Lakes. The property on Arrowtown-Lake Hayes Road, in Dalefield/Wakatipu Basin, sold for $9.5m. Photo / Supplied
The new-build lifestyle home on Coatesville-Riverhead Highway, in Coatesville, Auckland, was snapped up for $9.3m. Photo / Supplied
The property had four bedrooms and was luxuriously finished with a three-metre stud height, featuring a “world class” outlook.
At number nine, a big home in rural Coatesville, in Auckland’s rural fringe, was bought for $9.3m.
The brand new five-bedroom home on 8350sqm of land sold in June for substantially over the $5.1m CV but agent Ailsa McArthur, of Bayleys, told OneRoof the property had park-like grounds, was architecturally-designed, very high spec and the home had never been lived in.
The sale price was among the highest in the suburb for some time.
Rounding out the list was a North Shore lakefront house on Lake View Road, in Takapuna, which sold in July for $10m.
The sale, by Precision Real Estate agent Andrew Dorreen, is a suburb record for the year, and may be hard to beat, although Dorreen's own record for the year suggest he'll be out to beat it. He told OneRoof in September he had sold more than $85 million worth of property so far this year. $36m of that was in July - traditionally one of the worst months in real estate.
A waterfront home on Lake View Road, in Takapuna, Auckland, sold for $10m in July. Photo / Supplied
Auckland and Queenstown were not the only places to clock big sales – in Christchurch, the house price record tumbled twice in a month when an off-market deal in Scarborough Hills was made for more than $9m, with Harcourts Holmwood agent Grant Chappell telling OneRoof he was confident the price was a new high for the city’s housing market.
In Dunedin, an award-winning four-bedroom home on Cliffs Road overlooking the ocean sold for $3.575m, more than $1m over its RV.
The house was designed by architects from Mason & Wales and was described by judges for the NZIA as Dunedin’s answer to Malibu.
Wellington’s top sale was yet to settle but the wharf apartment in Clyde Quay was sold by Tommy’s agent Ramon Kane off-market for $5m in August, breaking the region’s price record for the year.
In Tauranga, the top price was the $8m paid for an original bach in a prime spot on Mount Maunganui’s Marine Parade, which broke the year’s record for the beach suburb.
https://www.oneroof.co.nz/news/bought-for-285-000-sold-for-8m-mount-maunganui-bach-stuns-at-auction-46013
In Hamilton, the top sale price was fetched by Harcourts agents Yvenna Yue and Craig Annandale, who are among OneRoof’s top listing agents for 2024.
Yue told OneRoof the luxury riverside property in Chartwell, which smashed the city price record with its $4.85m price tag, was aided by a launch party which had attracted numerous people, including the eventual buyers.
- Click here to find more properties for sale
