An architect-designed house overlooking the Hauraki Gulf in Leigh, north of Auckland, sold at auction Wednesday for $4.61 million.
Multiple bidders fought it out for the three-bedroom house by award-winning Herbst Architects that was marketed by Bayleys agents Kellie Bissett and Joneen Smith.
Bissett said: “Leigh is really getting its legs now, it’s really picking up. It was a bit undiscovered but people are seeing the value of what you can get here compared to what they’re paying in Omaha.
“There are some beautiful houses tucked away here, you just wouldn’t know.”
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“Coastal and lifestyle properties in Leigh and Cape Rodney are attracting a whole lot of people who didn’t even know it existed, they didn’t understand there was more coast to discover beyond Omaha.
“And this lockdown means people appreciate the benefit of having a beach house that is still within the Auckland regional boundaries.”
Seven bidders competed for the Lax Crescent house in Leigh which has breathtaking views of the Gulf. Photo / Supplied
The price is not a Leigh record: Bissett sold another four-bedroom waterfront property on over four hectares of land above the Whangateau Harbour, just out of Leigh, last week for more than $5m.
While the property, which had a ratings valuation of $2.15m, was on market $4.25m, fast and hard bidding pushed the price up another $360,000.
Bissett said the house was spectacular, with the architects cleverly creating a single-level living on the sloping site.
The owners, Julie Dooling and husband Bernard, earlier told OneRoof they built the property when they returned to New Zealand after 40 years in the UK.
They bought the land after searching around the waterfront areas north of Auckland and looked at “everything for sale and not for sale”, persuading the owner to sell them the 2000sqm site 11 years ago. Two years later they commissioned architects Lance and Nicky Herbst to design their three-bedroom house, with the final design closely following Lance’s initial idea of a crow’s nest when he first visited the site.
The owners are returning to the UK because travel restrictions prevent family visits between the two countries. Photo / Supplied
Most of the year-long build was supervised from abroad. The floor-to-ceiling glass walls of the cantilevered living rooms give panoramic views of the Hauraki Gulf taking in Little Barrier, Coromandel and Tawharanui - as well as passing dolphins and whales.
The house was designed to be lock-up-and-leave so the owners could come and go easily to England, where they have children and grandchildren.
“Those days are over. We realised that if we couldn’t travel to see family we would have to move back,” the owner said.
A four-bedroom house on Te Mana Street, Omaha, sold for $2.7m. Photo / Supplied
In the same auction, a four-bedroom house next to the shops and surf club at Omaha, on Te Mana Street, sold for $2.7m. Marketed by Bayleys agents Smith and Paul Elsden, the two-storeyed house with extra boat parking was built 15 years ago.
Bidders pushed the price to twice its ratings valuation of $1.325m. The price is modest compared to recent Omaha record prices for waterfront that smashed the $8m barrier in Inanga Lane.
Elsden told OneRoof that this price was one of the lower ones for the new-end of Omaha.
“You could get something for less than that in the [older] northern end - one sold in August for $1.92m. But entry level is now getting towards $2m. People in those mid to lower-end budgets are getting a bit scared of the prices, they think they’re out of the market. No one's expecting to buy in the low $1m anymore,” he said.
He added that while plenty of beach homeowners were keen to get appraisals to find out what their property was worth, most were hanging on to them so listings have almost dried up.
- Additional reporting Leigh Bramwell
