It's a weird time of year to be selling a beach house, but real estate agents Graham and Ollie Wall managed to secure the sale of a "bach" on Waiheke Island for more than $18 million.
The Walls sold the luxury Te Rere Cove estate at the weekend - more than seven years after the house first went on the market.
The Walls picked up the listing last month after previous attempts to sell the house either failed to get the price the owners, David Parkinson and wife Dee Crawford, wanted or ran afoul of the Overseas Investment Office.
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Ollie Wall wasn't at liberty to reveal the buyer’s details but said they did have a Kiwi passport. He wouldn't disclose how much the estate went for either, but the sale price is estimated to be something between the $18.5 million turned down at auction last year and the property’s $24 million valuation.
Wall said there were multiple tenders for the property, even though it's a “weird time of the year" be buying a beach house.
The new owner will be able to enjoy a 1800sq m luxury lodge house complete with helicopter landing and six-car garaging, indoor pool and home theatre.
The house was designed in an early New Zealand colonial style by Waiheke architectural designer Bryce Ardern.
The interior features French oak, limestone sea shell tiles and granite with decor styled by interior designer Anna Desbonnets.
The ground floor has family living, designer kitchen, art gallery, alfresco dining area, conservatory, indoor heated swimming pool,home theatre and air conditioning.
Upstairs in the main house is a master bedroom suite with balcony, two en suites and dressing rooms, kitchenette and a concealed library/TV snug.
Parkinson said last year that he first put Te Rere Cove to market six years ago, not long after it was built, and had listed it with multiple agents over the years.
Late last year he hosted an auction and invited multiple agencies to bring their buyers in a bid to finally secure a sale.
He said at the time that he had found the amount of time it was taking to sell the property hard "but not everyone has got $20 million in the pocket".
Parkinson told the New Zealand Herald last year that the shower floor in his bathroom off the master bedroom cost about $40,000.
"It was designed, manufactured and installed by my sister Catherine Parkinson, who lives in London and is a professional mosaic artist," he said.
She made the shower base in her studio in London in 15 separate sections. Each section took about a week to put together and in total there are more than 33,000 individuals pieces of marble and fossils. It was then shipped to New Zealand and took her 10 days to install.
The entertainment system in the indoor pool room has a screen which automatically drops down from the bulkhead when the system is switched on. The projector is encased in a special moisture-proof casing imported from the United States and has free-to-air TV, Sky TV, Netflix or DVDs.
The wine cellar holds 1000 bottles of 750ml and 100 1500ml magnum bottles.
Its own vineyard is in front of the home and produces Te Rere Motukaha Reserve Syrah.
The 2013 vintage sells for about $75 a bottle and was given five stars by Master of Wine Bob Campbell, ranked as "big, rich and ripe with plum, raspberry, blackberry, earth, black pepper, liquorice and smoky-oak flavours".
