$50m house sale is ‘just months away’

The real estate agent whose 10-year house price record was broken this week has congratulated the new record-holder, but told OneRoof that it won’t be long before he snatches back the title, with a $50 million house sale “just months away”.

Graham Wall, of Wall Real Estate, who brokered the $38.5m sale of the former Hotchin mansion, on Huriaro Place, in Auckland’s Orakei, praised agent Hamish Walker, of Walker and Co Realty, for his $40m-plus sale of a luxury estate in Queenstown.

“Our congratulations, what a wonderful result. We always celebrate other people’s success,” he told OneRoof.

But he added: “Let’s hope we can better that soon. Our intention is to beat that record, in Herne Bay, in the next couple of months.”

Wall said there were properties in New Zealand which could easily break break $50m if they ever came to market, adding that there were some new homes under construction right now that were worth $60m-plus.

“We’ve always said our beautiful little country is worth more. We’re massively undervalued. New Zealand is the safest little country on Earth,” he said.

“Our country is ready to surge, and each surge gets bigger.”

Read more

- Rod Stewart's in the house: The real estate deals that broke NZ records

- NZ’s most expensive house: Mystery surrounds $40m-plus sale

- 'Leonardo DiCaprio's superyacht parked outside our house'

Wall said international buyers had already been in touch with him following National’s announcement last week that it intends to overturn the foreign buyer ban for $2m-plus properties if it wins the election.

Ray White Queenstown owner Bas Smith said that the $40m-plus result was fantastic for the region, adding that high-end property sales had remained strong despite the overall downturn in the market.

“This is only at the edge of what can happen. It opens up a lot more opportunities,” he told OneRoof.

Smith said he knew of “numerous” properties that would be worth $50m or $60m or more, and with foreign buyers looming, big sales and big luxury developments could become more frequent.

“More places like Wyuna Preserve, or Jack’s Point Preserve, or Glendhu – it will be astounding the prices you’d see,” he said, adding that homes of 1000sqm or more with build costs of $35,000 a square metre or more are not out of the question. He knows of a build that will cost some $100m when it finishes.

Smith said the proposed 15% tax on foreign buyers proposed by National would be good for the region – but only if tax collected in a region is spent in the region. “We’ve only got 25,000 people paying for all that infrastructure; same in the Bay of Islands,” he said.

The Club House at Jack's Point Golf Course, in Queenstown. The area is popular with wealthy house buyers. Photo / Getty Images

“[Foreign buyers] are not put off by the tax. In fact, people are often surprised there’s no stamp duty here.”

Bayleys head of insights Chris Farhi said that while the number of Kiwis who could and would spend $50m on a house was low, he believed there was money for large land holdings.

“There is [a] cluster of serious lifestyle properties, nice blocks of land that are private. They’re probably of the scale that buyers don’t look at the house so much. They know they’re going to do heaps of work anyway to tailor it to their taste.”

He noted that the supply of finished high-end homes in New Zealand was also very limited.

Colliers managing director John Scobie agreed that while such high-end homes existed in Queenstown, the high-net-worth owners usually kept them in the family.

“It’s a matter of whether they would ever be put to market. You can see places with construction that lasts two or three years, using commercial cranes. These are places that rent out for $100,000 a night to people who come in on their private jets and stay ... they come from all over the world,” he said.

Byron Bay, in NSW, Australia, is a similar market to Queenstown. Photo / Getty Images

He said that while logic would suggest that changing the rules around foreign buyers would bring in more foreign buyers, he wasn’t sure how numbers would be affected by immigration rules.

“But you’d expect more to come, the demand is there. It’s a very small market here, and the wealthy like to go to exclusive places,” he said.

Michelle Ciesielski, partner at Bayleys’ associate Knight Frank, said sales of homes worth over $40m both in New Zealand and Australia were rare. “[They] are very tightly held, and, as a result none have come to market to confirm this,” she said, adding that the highest recorded prices for luxury homes in Australia's three biggest holiday destinations – Noosa, Sorrento and Byron Bay – usually fetched between A$22m and A$34m.

- Click here for more homes for sale in Queenstown Lakes