Bayleys Remuera agent Gary Wallace has a string of $10 million-plus listings available in a buoyant high-end market, including a penthouse apartment with beautiful views across Auckland which also comes with a 12-car private garage bigger than most homes.
The garage that goes with 8/464 Remuera Road is about the size of an average three-bedroom house – it’s quite something, Wallace says, and, yes, some people really do have that many cars.
“There’s one guy I met, I think he had eight supercars and they’re probably worth about anywhere between half a million and $1m each. They’re like works of art – they are collector’s items.”
The biggest problem for the owners of car collections is where to house them, with people often renting a warehouse somewhere like Penrose to store them.
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“With this particular property you’ve got the luxury of going in your lift and going straight to your private garage and there they are, you decide which one you’re going to drive today.”
The garage is part of a boutique apartment development built six or seven years ago. Wallace says the vendor was in the car business and bought off-plan so was able to design the apartment and garage how he wanted.
The extra large garage was built to house the vendor’s car collection. Photo / Supplied
The penthouse has sweeping views of Auckland harbour. Photo / Supplied
It doesn’t have to be used as a garage, though. With a temperate underground climate, Wallace says it could be a fabulous wine cellar or the ultimate man-cave. “You could put a billiard table in there, you could have a golf driving range, you could do whatever you want with it.”
And while the garage is great, the penthouse itself is pretty special, Wallace says: “The views over Auckland and out to the gulf are sublime.”
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At 340sqm over two levels, it’s bigger than the average house as well. Wallace says an expensive freestanding home in Remuera varies in size from anything between 280sqm and 340sqm, plus this one is only a three-minute walk to the village.
In nearby Kohimarama, Wallace also has listed a Horace Massey-designed house that was commissioned in the 1930s by the Yates family, of garden seed fame, which once had a ballroom.
The current owners undertook “a massive renovation” and extension, gutting and rebuilding the house and adding a big kitchen/family area.
“They’ve completely upgraded the home. It’s like walking into a brand-new home, it’s amazing what they’ve done.
“Downstairs it had a ballroom, they’ve converted the ballroom, installed an amazing bar and wine cellar and upgraded all of that and put another bedroom at the end of that with an ensuite. It’s just a fantastic family home.”
A Horace Massey-designed house for sale in Auckland’s Kohimarama. Photo / Supplied
36 Aldred Road, in Remuera, Auckland, has high price expectations. Photo / Supplied
The house is on about 2300sqm of land. There’s a big lawn, a “magnificent” swimming pool and a barbecue area.
Another property in Remuera, 36 Aldred Road, sits on 4200sqm of land and is also expected to fetch well north of $10m, and 218 Victoria Avenue, in Remuera, on 1279sqm, is also circa $10m.
Wallace says despite the challenging times, the market is different at the top end where people are still out buying.
“It’s the top of the pyramid – it’s rarefied up there so therefore clearly the buyers for that type of property are fewer than say your typical buyer for a $4m Remuera home but in saying that I think for that sort of buyer it’s very much a lifestyle decision.
“I don’t think they’re impacted with the current interest rate regime and that type of thing.
“You’re dealing with people that are at that stage of their life that have made good decisions and they’re quite comfortable and so really they’re taking a 10-year point of view.”
Also in the $10m-plus band, one of the penthouse apartments on offer at The Pacifica in the city centre has had renewed global interest, says New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Pene Milne.
Another Remuera gem for sale is 218 Victoria Avenue. Photo / Supplied
The top penthouse suite at The Pacifica, in Auckland CBD, is on the market for $10.95m. Photo / Supplied
She has had people from overseas flying in to view the apartment at the top of the residential tower, listed for $10.95m, over the last few weeks.
Milne wouldn’t say which countries people were coming from but says the last two were spread apart geographically.
She says most people still associate the top two floors of The Pacifica for being the super penthouse once advertised for $42m but that has now been divided into four penthouses with sales of two underway, and this one is at the top and is 355sqm on the prime north west corner.
Ten million dollar-plus listings are not just the domain of inner-city suburbs.
One for sale in Pakuranga is 13 Acmena Lane, which features a tennis court and indoor pool on a huge 6300sqm and only a five-minute walk to St Kentigern College.
The value of the “extraordinarily” large estate is well secured by the development potential for the future, says agent Angela Rudling from Bayleys.
“As we all know they're putting a lot more houses into a lot smaller spaces,” she says.
The house was originally built in 1948 as a farmhouse but has been renovated and extended multiple times over the years.
It still has a timeless feel, though, she says, and everything inside is elegant.
“It’s got a very, very nice formal lounge and dining area and then it's got a big kitchen which is in the central family area which has great indoor/outdoor flow to a very nice in-ground heated swimming pool.”
Tenders for 13 Acmena Lane, in Pakuranga, Auckland, close on April 18. Photo / Supplied
This five-bedroom home at 15 Lake View Road, in Takapuna, Auckland, sits on 1244sqm by Lake Pupuke. Photo / Supplied
The estate is like a private enclave, Rudling says. “It’s just beautiful, and some of the neighbouring properties over the years have been tightly held by some very well-heeled people who just love the area for its convenience but you’ve got a different lifestyle.”
On the North Shore, Andrew Dorreen from Precision has had multiple offers on a home lakeside in Takapuna which is again expected to be in the $10m-plus bracket.
15 Lake View Road is the sort of offering that does not come along often on Lake Pupuke, Dorreen says.
“Being lakefront instead of seafront you have 100% privacy from nobody walking in front of the property and it's a really tranquil, one-of-a-kind position really - irreplaceable.”
Lake Pupuke is sought-after with the last couple of sales in the same street fetching north of $10m in off-market sales and Dorreen says when a quality property comes along it gets snapped up quickly.
“When there's a quality property that's obviously snapped up quickly.”
There are plenty of people out there who can play in the high-end market, he says.
“These types of properties when they are offered to the market are relatively few and far between and whilst they may take a little bit longer than your run-of-the-mill property they are still unique in the sense that if people don't explore an opportunity on one particular day then that opportunity might be lost for multiple years.”
