Kiwis love waterfront property, and they're prepared to pay for it.
The top house prices in New Zealand are mostly waterfront, and it's the same in our favourite strip of coastal Australia.
In the last year of eight of the top ten house New Zealand prices were waterfront Auckland: on the cliffs above Auckland’s St Heliers achieved $17.6 million, $10.5 million and $10.2 million; Herne Bay waterfront properties sold for $12 million, $11.2 million and 10.25 million, another on the cliffs above rural Leigh for $12 million and one right on the beach at Devonport for $10 million.
But Kiwis with a yearning for waterfront and year round warmth are also buying across the Tasman. Their second home: coastal south eastern Queensland, particularly Noosa and the Sunshine Coast. Kiwis have a special soft spot in their hearts for the area, with its mix of white sand beaches, great food and national park only half an hour's drive from Sunshine Coast airport.
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"We have thousands of friendly cousins from the other side of the ditch who buy and sell property through our company, and also have a number of Australian clients who own properties in New Zealand, especially around Queenstown," says Tom Offerman, whose company sells most of the top end properties in the beachfront post codes.
"There are no accurate stats available however as our company sells the majority of Noosa property, our internal stats are quite representative. Direct purchases by New Zealand buyers has cycled in the range of 3 percent to 21percent since 1995.
"Currently it is around 7 percent and trending higher which I think is attributable to the favourable exchange rates and the current high level of property values in New Zealand, and the comparable good value obtainable in Noosa with high rental returns for investors."
This year a beach front house on Sunshine Beach topped the state’s luxury sales at AU$14 million ($14.95 million), while a Gold Coast mansion on Hedges Ave and another Hamptons-style one on Witta Cres, Noosa Heads each went for $8.54 million.
An apartment in La Mer, Hastings Street, Noosa (left, with red roof) sold for NZ$7.69 million. Picture/supplied.
Properties on Noosa’s main street, Hastings Street, have always had the cachet. For a property in the prestigious La Mer building, Tom Offerman Real Estate fetched $7.69 million last October, while in February a property on The Esplanade Sunshine Beach went for $6.5 million
And last month records tumbled again with the sale of 23 Hastings Street for $8.81 million, again sold by Tom Offerman Real Estate. The three bed apartment with its own garden, pool and – most importantly – direct beach access, sold after a very short listing period.
A beach front apartment, also on Hastings St, sold for $8.81 million in August. Picture/supplied.
The company says they are seeing a resurgence in beachfront property sales and there’s no sign of it changing soon. They see holiday makers turning into buyers, despite a tough twelve months in the Brisbane and coastal Queensland markets.
Offerman expects that a beachfront mid-floor apartment the agency is currently marketing in Noosa Court at 55 Hastings Street (the first in over a decade) with a price guide of $11.74 m will be the next top price in the street. Prices obtained in early 2018, $19.22 million for a Webb Rd, Sunshine Beach property and another on Seaview Terrace going for $16.23 million, have not been matched this year.
A first floor apartment in this block of six is asking $11.75 million. Picture/supplied.
“The Noosa apartment market topping the country for capital growth over the last year at a rate of 24.8% [and] the trend is continuing,” says Offerman. “The investment potential speaks only of enviable financial success for those who are fortunate to acquire their piece of Noosa Heads’ hottest real estate.”
Offerman points out that for Kiwi buyers to avoid paying the additional foreign acquirers state tax their contract of sale must be signed by them whilst they are physically in Australia. Signing a contract by electronic means whilst resident in New Zealand means possible taxes of over 7 percent of the property value.
He sees an uptick in property values as funds start flowing from southern markets rebounding from their downturn from 2016 to early 2019.
