Agents who deal in top-of-the-line luxury real estate – in both the $5m-$10m and $10m-$20m-plus bands – say demand has not let up over the past 12 months.
OneRoof analysis of all settled sales in the year to November 15 shows 11 properties fetched between $10m and $22m – and a further 74 properties fetched between $5m and $10m, with the top 25 settled sales selling for a total of $270m-plus.
More homes are set to join them on the list, with OneRoof learning of several record deals that have yet to settle.
The quantity of big sales partly reflects the amount of money circulating around New Zealand but it is also the result of the rapid escalation in property values that took place after the first Covid lockdown.
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A lot of Kiwis have used those gains to upscale to a new home or buy a bach, or, in the case of some at the top end of the market, buy a second or third luxury property.
Most of the top sales, both settled and unsettled, are in Auckland, in Herne Bay and Remuera, but a handful of big money deals have taken place in Queenstown, including two homes that sold for around $17m each.
Wall Real Estate agents Ollie, Andrew and Graham Wall says there's a lot of money circulating in New Zealand. Photo / Ted Baghurst
There have also been large sales in Wanaka, Christchurch, Tauranga and Hastings.
Luxury agency Wall Real Estate has its name on many of the big deals that have taken place this year, including the record-breaking $22m for a mansion in Herne Bay. It’s also the agency behind the all-time residential sale price record in New Zealand - $39m for a huge mansion in Auckland’s Orakei.
That record could tumble if the super-penthouse at the top of the Pacifica, New Zealand’s tallest residential apartment tower, sells for its list price of just $42m. That listing is being marketed by New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Pene Milne, who brokered last year’s top sale, $24m for a waterfront mansion in Westmere.
With an asking price of $42.8m, the super penthouse at the Pacifica is New Zealand's priciest home currently on the market. Photo / Supplied
Graham Wall, who runs Wall Real Estate with his two sons, says his clientele includes super-wealthy people who live first in Herne Bay, move to Remuera for the grammar schools, then move back to Herne Bay.
The highest known sale price of 2021 is $23.5m, paid for a huge waterfront property on Marine Parade in Herne Bay. Rich-lister property developer Kurt Gibbons bought the home – which boasts one of the city’s widest beach fronts - earlier this year.
UP agents Peter and Myles Cleave sold this home on Karori Crescent, in Orakei, Auckland, for $12.5m. Photo / Supplied
A grand home on Maungakiekie Avenue, in Greenlane, Auckland, sold under the hammer for $9.9m. Photo / Supplied
Clipping at its heels was the $22m the Walls got for Gibbons’ former home on Argyle Street, also in Herne Bay.
This luxury property was marketed as a “once in a lifetime” opportunity and both homes were part of the “Herne Bay shuffle” saw the Walls close deals on four luxury homes in the suburb for a combined total of $60m-plus.
Herne Bay also notched up a $14m sale in March, for a large waterfront home on Sarsfield Street. The agents who found the buyer, Barfoot & Thompson’s Carl Madsen and Chris Batchelor, told OneRoof at the time they were shocked at the level of competition for the house.
Outside of Auckland, there have only been a handful of comparatively large sales – but two very large ones which have yet to settle included Ray White Queenstown’s sale of a luxury lodge in Twin Peak View, in Glenorchy, which fetched $17m in October, and a neighbouring property that went for $17.5m earlier in the year.
Playground of the rich: This luxury bach on Inanga Lane, in Omaha, sold for $7.375m. Photo / Supplied
A stunning house on Peninsula Road, in Kelvin Heights, Queenstown Lakes, was snapped up for $6.5m. Photo / Supplied
Other big sales this year include the $6m paid for a five-bedroom home in the centre of Wellington; $5.6m for a beachfront home in Tauranga’s Mount Maunganui; and $5.2m for Hastings’ Mana Lodge, the former home of broadcasting legend Sir Paul Holmes.
Graham Wall says that while the $20m-plus market doesn’t feature a lot of sales, he is working on three that he can’t yet talk about. He has been surprised at just how much money is out there.
“It is amazing - there's so much new wealth in New Zealand that we didn't even know about.”
Properties in the $20m-plus “stratosphere” are almost their own market but he is also selling a lot of homes in the $5m to $7m-plus range, often without them being advertised.
Ray White agents Ross Hawkins and Heather Walton. The pair have seen prices in Omaha soar. Photo / Fiona Goodall
People ring up to find out what their property is worth and the Walls tell them they already have a buyer, such is the demand.
Covid, he thinks, has reminded people in the high-value market of their mortality. “I think a lot of people just think, ‘You know, I deserve more.’ They ring up asking for a view of the water or a bigger and better house.”
However, the $5m to $7m market has plateaued a bit, Wall says.
People at that level keep an eye on interest rates and know if the rate suddenly goes from three per cent to four per cent, they’ll “need another salary” to cover the extra cost.
But the prices won’t drop, he thinks, adding that for every $10m house he has five buyers.
Ross Hawkins, of Ray White Epsom, also sells top-end properties around the country and says the market has “gone silly”.
“We’re breaking records everywhere we sell at the moment.”
That has a lot to do with money staying in the country because the wealthy haven’t been able to travel, so they are putting money into their leisure time in New Zealand instead.
Wellington's biggest sale this year: Hobson Street, in Thorndon, fetched $6m. Photo / Supplied
Some would easily spend hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on overseas travel, he says. “They charter superyachts and all that sort of stuff so, yes, they do spend a lot of money taking families on ski trips and safaris and wherever else they go to these luxury hideaways around the world.”
And people who buy in places like Omaha, the playground of the rich to the north of Auckland, are wealthy enough to not think twice about moving a few doors up the beach for a better view, he says.
“We did three deals on one street in Omaha for $7.45m, $7.75m and $8.32m. They were all people just moving around in Omaha to better places.”
A lot of people went to Omaha in the early stages and got the pick of the sites but now are venturing further north to the Tara Iti golf course development, where they are building even bigger homes, Hawkins says. “There’s a bit of one-upmanship going on, where people are buying two lots beside each other and building across both.
“These are the sort of people that will come in to play golf with the rich and famous, and hang out at the clubhouse at Tara Iti.”
And people who have a property in Omaha are likely to have others, perhaps in Queenstown, or maybe on an island somewhere, he says. “They like to have the ski house and the golf house and something by the vineyards.”
Big numbers in Christchurch: A house on Sawyers Arms Road, in Harewood, sold for $5.3m. Photo / Supplied
A lot also have overseas pads in places like Colorado, Maui or Aspen, which they haven’t been able to use lately because of Covid.
James Wiilson, head of valuation at OneRoof’s data partner, Valocity, says contrary to how it might appear there haven’t been as many sales in the $20m plus bracket over the last couple of years, although there are never many in that price range anyway. But there have been a healthy number of transactions in the $5m to $15m range, and the $5m to $8m range is becoming much more normal.
Fifteen years ago those properties were considered extremely high value and often the domain of the international buyer but now there are a lot more Kiwis buying a property in that price range.
That’s because a lot of families will have seen their asset increase in value significantly, which they have been able to use to climb the property ladder, though they will still need a large income.
It’s the same for the next rung down in the $3m to $5m range, where suddenly on paper the home has made owners a lot of money, meaning people who bought seven years ago for $1m or more can take out a similar loan and find themselves in the $3m to $5m club.
Mana Lodge, the former home of Sir Paul Holmes, sold for $5.2m. Photo / Supplied
“Equity growth has allowed people to leverage into a price bracket they wouldn't have been able to 15 years ago,” says Wilson.
Those who can’t afford the likes of Herne Bay and Remuera are looking across to Auckland’s east, says Greg Hornblow, group general manager of Ray White Howick.
There buyers can get the great schools, the wonderful beaches and the big house with gardens for half the price in central Auckland. “It's definitely a more cost-effective way to buy. You’re talking a beautiful home out here for $3.5m compared to $7m to $10m.”
The area has become extremely popular in recent months. In October, a big home with a pool on Anaheim Boulevard in Howick attracted an opening bid of $2.6m and landed 74 bids later at $3.3m.
Another strong sale was of a property on Point View Drive that boasts stunning views and plenty of land at 6600sqm. The opening bid was $2.6m and 57 bids later it sold for $2.975m.
That’s still big dollars to pay, says Hornblow, but look at what you get, from the landholding itself to the schools, the beaches and amenities.
