An Auckland couple snapped up two waterfront Northland properties for a total of $7.55 million in March, OneRoof can reveal.
The homes – a near-new architectural four-bedroom home on McGregor Street, in Taiharuru, Whangarei Heads, and a four-bedroom home an hour south on Lanyard Place, in Marsden Cove marina – sold within a week of each other.
The McGregor Street property, marketed by Bayleys agents Jude Copeland and Gary and Vicki Wallace, fetched $3.85m at auction on March 29 while the Lanyard Place property sold in a tender campaign by Bayleys agent Mike Barrett for $3.7m. The tender closed March 23, and the sale went unconditional a week later.
Bayleys Northland general manager Tony Grindle told OneRoof that both homes were bought by the same buyer. “It’s unusual to get two nearly-$4m deals at the same time, let alone two by the same person,” he said.
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“It’s testament to the fact that although there’s conversation in the media about the market being down, that doesn’t translate to top end sales in Northland. They haven’t slowed down.”
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Grindle said that buyers in the $2m-plus price bracket were mostly Aucklanders looking for opportunities. “Northland is quite different from, say, Omaha, which is just a suburb. Here it’s a truly provincial outlook,” he said.
“Anecdotally, we’re seeing enquiry from people who would normally consider Coromandel but are now considering Northland. It’s the lifestyle, the ease of access.”
A canal-front home on Lanyard Place, on Marsden Cove, sold after tender for $3.7m to the same Auckland buyers. Photo / Supplied
The marina home on Lanyard Place had two pontoons with easy access to the harbour. Photo / Supplied
He said waterfront sales are seasonal, focused on late sprint and summer, and then gearing up through autumn. Of the 11 waterfront sales in Northland across all agencies in the past financial year, Grindle said, just two were for over $4m and another four were sales over $3m.
The agents involved in the deals cannot disclose the buyers' details, but Copeland did say that their search was property specific. “After the cyclone, the coastal areas were dying, from Tutukaka through to Whangarei,” Copeland said of her McGregor Street listing.
“But sometimes you see someone walk into a room and fall in love. You could see that as soon as [the buyers] walked in on the second weekend we were on the market. They were there 10 or 15 minutes, and then bid at auction a couple of weeks later. I’ve seen that happen maybe two or three times before, people falling in love like that.”
Copeland added that the damage from Cyclone Gabrielle had made the buyers' trip up to Northland a challenge. “It was a journey to get up, with the Brynderwyn Hills closed.”
Gary Wallace said there were three bidders for the McGregor Street property, which was virtually brand-new and was sold with all the furniture included. A recent $3m sale in the area gave them confidence about the price for the house on a 574sqm section, which has a CV of $2.5m.
The near-new beachfront house on McGregor Street, Whangarei Heads, was sold with all its furniture as a turn-key holiday home. Photo / Supplied
Taiharuru sits with the Pacific Ocean to the east, Taiharuru Estuary to the west, and is surrounded by bush and farmland. Photo / Supplied
Barrett said the Lanyard Place marina tender attracted four offers, all over $3m, so he was not surprised that the 406sqm home with over 18m of canal frontage sold for 40% over its $2.525m CV.
The property came with a billiards room, multiple indoor and outdoor living spaces, a sea pen and two pontoons – one of which currently moored a 60ft game fishing boat. “It was north-facing, looking at Mount Manaia and you can be on the harbour fishing in a couple of minutes,” Barrett said.
"When you see the cost of a berth in Auckland can be $100,000, if not half a million dollars-plus, but with this you can have the boat out front and just jump on to go fishing.”
Barrett said that around 16 buyers – all with $3m-plus budgets – looked at the property, a mix of Aucklanders and locals moving closer to the water.
“You’re lucky to get one or two on the market at any one time. This part is premium because of the size of boat you can moor and you’re out in the harbour in minutes. Other parts are restricted in boat length and you have to go through locks.”
A multi-million-dollar estate with two luxury houses on Kauri Mountain Point, on a 10.15ha peninsular at Whangarei Heads, is for sale by negotiation. Photo / Supplied
The agent said that only two other properties on the marina have beaten the price: a 741sqm house on 1581sqm on Martingdale Lane, which sold for $5.65m in December 2020, and a house in Mariners Haven, which got $4.525m in October 2021 at the height of the market. The neighbourhood, just 20 minutes from Whangarei, includes cafes, shops and a medical centre and is close to the beaches of One Tree Point, Marsden Bay or the surf at Ruakaka.
“Northland has such a lovely, relaxed lifestyle, people want to live here,” he said.
While the prices are high for a residential property in the Whangarei area, Bayleys agents John Greenwood and Irene Bremner have currently re-listed a luxury lifestyle estate near the tip of Whangarei Heads at Kauri Mountain Point, Taiharuru, which may beat those two sales.
The 10.15h resort includes two luxury homes, the Glasshouse and Te Whara, that have featured in magazines and travel guides.
When it was listed two years ago it had a price tag of $8.5m, but the Bayleys agents are now offering the property for sale by negotiation. Records show it has a CV of $5.85m.
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