Another record has tumbled in Auckland’s playground of the rich.
A four-bedroom bach in the North Island beach town of Omaha sold this week for more than $9 million.
The sale price is Omaha’s highest, breaking the previous record of $8.32m, set just seven months ago at auction by a neighbouring four-bedroom home.
The record-breaking Kutai Lane property isn’t your average bach. The two-storey luxury home has a heated pool, spa, and master retreat on its own floor, top of the line home automation, a built-in bar, and chilled wine cellar.
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Precision real estate agent Di Balich, who brokered the deal, declined to disclose the identity of the buyer but said interest in the bach had been strong. Two buyers had submitted very high offers but there were others with budgets of around $8m who had expressed an interest. “Six months ago, they possibly would have got the house for that,” she said.
“So many Omaha owners are aspiring to get onto the waterfront. They come here, discover they like it and then want to be waterfront.”
According to OneRoof records, the property last changed hands in 2013 for $3.95m.
Balich reckoned that Omaha prices had yet to peak.
“There are at least a couple of places that would go for $10m - they’re just not for sale at the moment. And you don’t go door-knocking; people are very discreet, they call you,” she said.
“I’m confident this market will remain robust. I can’t see any correction any time soon.”
The Kutai Lane house has a luxury finish. Photo / Supplied
The house offers stunning views of the beach and harbour. Photo / Supplied
Balich, who brokered the then record sale of Paul Henry and Diane Foreman’s four-bedroom "bach" at Karahu Lane for $7.35m 18 months ago, said that owners are staying put.
“We’re seeing people buying now who are permanent residents. They used to have a place in the city, but are now in a position they can work from home. You can see it in things like the golf club membership in the last 18 months going from strength to strength.”
Some buyers looking for bigger spreads to build a family compound are expanding their search to nearby waterfront countryside, Balich said.
In February she sold a 4.4ha former mandarin orchard on Point Wells for more than $12 million. With views across the Whangateau Harbour to Omaha, it was one of the last undeveloped plots of land in an area populated by luxury holiday homes.
The Kutai Lane house is one of a small number of absolute beachfront properties in Omaha. Photo / Supplied
The previous Omaha record-holder - a Hamptons-style house on Inanga Lane which sold for $8.32m. Photo / Supplied
Balich said mid-range properties were selling fast too: a modern four-bedroom home in the Torea Park enclave of Matakana sold within one day of listing for $3.4m, after records show it changed hands in July 2020 for $2.6m. And a three-bedroom cedar house on the southern end of Omaha that fetched $2.25m 18 months ago is under contract for $3.5m.
Sales of $5m-plus in Omaha are a recent phenomenon.
Figures from OneRoof’s data partner, Valocity, show that the first time Omaha prices broke the $5m barrier was in March 2019, when a seven-year-old four-bedroom house on Taumata Road fetched $6.5m. Less than a month later, another home on the same street sold for $7.725m and since then, there have been 11 sales of more than $5m.
Ray White agent Heather Walton, who sold the Inanga Lane house for $8.32m, pegged 2020 as the start of Omaha’s price boom. And she believes it won’t be long before a property in the town breaks the $10m barrier. “They’ll be very special properties and will in time break $10m. You couldn’t replace them.”
This house on Taumata Road was the first to break the $5m barrier when it sold in March 2019 for $6.5m. Photo / Supplied
She said prices were moving fast in the middle and lower value brackets
“Prices for homes one back from the beach have jumped $1m since Covid. I sold a one such property just before Christmas 2020 for the high $3ms. The sale fell through, but a month later the vendors got $4.28m.”
Even properties in Omaha’s lower-priced harbourside are attracting big numbers. Last October 11 bidders pushed up the price of a bach to $6.35 million.
The listing agent, Bayleys' Victoria Turner, said that the sale of the bach, in the same family since it was built 20 years ago, showed that the gap was narrowing between harbourside and ocean front.
