Luxury apartment buyers – particularly those looking for the dream penthouse – can choose from some top real estate in Auckland right now.
But developers and agents are finding that some offerings are too rich for this market, and have modified the size of their super penthouses – and their price points – to meet demand.
Martin Cooper, whose 28-unit luxury apartment development One Saint Stephens is slated for completion at the end of 2024, told OneRoof that the company is now re-configuring the sixth-floor penthouse, which had been looking for a $22.5m buyer.
“We have looked at the option to split it into two, and have consents for that. It provides options for the market,” he said.
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Buyers can choose from a 188sqm penthouse, asking $8.25m, or a larger 339sqm apartment for $15.25m. Both will have the same luxury fit-out the developers, Countrywide Residences and Experiences by Coopers, have for the rest of the block at the top of Parnell rise, Cooper said.
“We’ll still keep the intent of the penthouses, but we’ve had a lot of enquiry at those price points. We’ve sold a lot of homes [on the lower floors] in that $6m to $10m range and seeing a lot of interest.
“The two main brackets of buyers are that $6m to $10m buyers, and then $10m to $15m.
“People have multiple properties in that higher end – one at the beach, one in central Otago, plus Auckland and maybe one off-shore," he said, adding that the company has seen an uptick in enquiry from foreign buyers, again, mainly looking for homes in the $10m to $15m bracket.
It follows the same move by the Melbourne-based developers of the downtown Auckland tower, The Pacifica, nearly two years ago. After nearly four years of touting a super penthouse (it measured 1219sqm over two floors) with an asking price of $42.8m, developers Hengyi carved the space into three smaller apartments – a 630sqm two-level space and two single level apartments of 300sqm and a 260sqm.
The 539sqm, $22.5m penthouse at One Saint Stephens in St Stephens Avenue, Parnell, will be reconfigured into two smaller apartments asking $8.25m and $15.25m. Photo / Supplied
The super-penthouse in The Pacifica, on Customs Street, Auckland, was carved into three smaller apartments, the biggest now asking $15m. Photo / Supplied
The smallest apartment sold a year ago for an undisclosed sum (it was asking $7.89m), but New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Pene Milne is still marketing the larger four-bedroom apartment for $15m.
In mid-town at 51 Albert, on Albert Street, a 30-apartment block that shares a footprint with a hotel overlooking Saint Patrick’s Square, only four apartments are left to sell, said NZ Sotheby’s managing director for Auckland projects and developments Gavin Lloyd, who is marketing the properties.
Two of those are the penthouses, which were asking $11m. Lloyd said that off-the-plan sales tended to slow at this point in the construction cycle – the building tops out next month, but won’t be ready for occupancy for another nine months.
Buyers of the new 16-unit The Elysian, in Balfour Road, Parnell, are asking to combine and reconfigure apartments to customise their plans. Photo / Supplied
York House, in York Street, Parnell, has penthouses asking up to $9.275m. Photo / Supplied
Lloyd, who is also marketing the penthouse apartments of Seascape, the city’s tallest residential tower, for a price over $11.2m, said that after these towers finish there will be a pause in any new luxury development coming to the market for some years, as developers shelved plans after Covid for any more luxury towers.
Developers have more confidence in the city fringe, with two projects recently starting their marketing to wealthy luxury buyers. Both are slated for completion dates in 2025 or 2026.
York House, a 33-unit development on York Street, is offering a “collection” of eight penthouses on the two upper floors. Price will range from $4.12m for a 160sqm two-bedroom apartment with three-car garaging to $9.275m for a 234sqm residence with 130sqm of deck and garaging for four cars, Milne told OneRoof.
“Compared to other high-end apartments of a smaller size, these are incredibly good value,” she said.
Also in Parnell, the Elysian, a 16-apartment project on Balfour Road has already sold a $3.45m garden apartment as well as two $9m elevated apartments since it began selling a month ago.
However, instead of carving flats into smaller footprints, sales manager Ben Meiring said that a large proportion of clients want to combine apartments into a larger 200sqm or more residence, working with the architect to customise their homes.
“We’re focusing on collaborating with clients to design their dream apartment, rather than try to shoehorn them into pre-determined plans. At this top end, we are finding that people want that level of customisation,” he said.
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