An unusually high number of beachfront houses are for sale along Takapuna Beach in a prime strip where properties are often kept for decades, sometimes with the ownership transferred between multiple family members over the years.
Instead of the scarce one or two properties available at any one time on the North Shore beach nine are for sale – but with the golden sand of the beach mere steps away the price expectations are beyond the reach of most.
OneRoof understands some of the sales are for age-related reasons, such as an inherited property being surplus to requirements or through an older owner having to move on.
The properties range from the Hauraki end to the Milford end of Takapuna Beach and include the rocky part in the middle. They take in prestigious addresses like Clifton Road where there are big mansions, and The Strand, which is in the heart of Takapuna near the buzz of the shops and restaurants. Together they have a combined value of more than $90 million.
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Wayne Shum, senior research analyst with Valocity, OneRoof’s data partner, looked at sales of coastal properties in Takapuna and Milford, finding numerous examples where the property was bought long ago but where the last transfer of ownership is recent, indicating the property has stayed within the family.
This is especially true in streets like Audrey Road, Minnehaha Ave, The Strand and Clifton Road.
A vacant but prime waterfront site on Audrey Road, for example, was purchased for $2.3m in 2001 but the last transfer date is 2020, says Shum. “That property has been in the same family for the last 20 odd years. It’s had a number of transfers.”
In Clifton Road the data shows several properties bought in the 1990s for under $2m have recent ownership transfers rather than sales.
While these beachside, clifftop and waterfront sites are often generational assets some are “constantly changing names between the kids, the wife, the husband”, Shum says.
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It is no wonder that once obtained, homes along these beautiful sandy beaches are tightly held, he says.
“That would be the last thing you would want to let go. If you were trading to live somewhere else, where would you go if you stayed on the Shore?”
People could go over the bridge to Herne Bay nearer the CBD, he says, but they would be adding millions to the price tag, or they could look in Mission Bay and Kohimarama, where houses sit quite a bit back from the sand.
“Houses at Takapuna Beach and Milford are absolute beachfront - on Tamaki Drive, you have to cross the street.”
Valocity senior research analyst Wayne Shum: "If you were trading to live somewhere else, where would you go." Photo / Fiona Goodall
Takapuna Beach can get crowded, but there are some quiet spots. Photo / Fiona Goodall
The Eastern Bays beaches also tend to be busier and more city-like in their vibe, although Takapuna and Milford beaches have their crowds too. Both have spots that are quiter and more private, though. “You don't really want, especially in the summer, hundreds of people walking past your house every hour,” says Shum.
Bayleys agent Victoria Bidwell sells in Takapuna and Milford and is marketing a Simon Carnachan-designed home at the Milford end of Takapuna Beach. The O’Neills Avenue property has sweeping curves and wall to ceiling glass to take advantage of the amazing views.
Bidwell says this property, which has a $9.6m CV, is being sold as it has been in the family for over 20 years and they are now living out of Auckland.
She says some of the properties currently for sale along Takapuna Beach have been with the same owners for a long time. “It’s not related to global warming or anything like that, it’s just circumstances but it’s great for beachfront buyers because they’ve got a bit of choice and normally they don’t.”
The O’Neills Avenue house was a bit dated inside but the vendor completely renovated it, she says. “The whole of the interior has been rebuilt, the drainage has been redone, it’s got an imported Italian kitchen. Everything is like a new house inside.”
The curvy Simon Carnachan-designed home for sale at 22 O'Neills Avenue, in Takapuna. It has a 2021 CV of $9.6m. Photo / Supplied
The view from a Takapuna trophy home that sold last year for $17.1m. Photo / Supplied
The property also has “better views than anything you will ever see”. The house sits behind a high sea wall which gives total privacy but with great swimming and kayaking on the other side.
Bidwell says Takapuna Beach is not everyone’s cup of tea. “It's a bit like Grand Central Station at eight in the morning [with do-walkers], but it's still a beautiful beach. You can swim in all tides. It’s big and it's got good aspect for sun.”
Some people prefer Milford Beach – Bidwell sold a record-setting house in Audrey Road last year for $17.1m, which she says is technically in Takapuna but is closer to Milford.
Ollie Wall, from Wall Real Estate, is marketing a house on The Strand that has a CV of $10.825m. It was built by two sisters 50 years ago, who “basically refused to leave” - and why would you, Wall asks. “Once you've lived there, nothing else will compare.”
21 The Strand, in Takapuna, was built 50 years ago and is likely to be demolished. Photo / Supplied
The newly renovated and upgraded home for sale at 50 Hauraki Road. Photo / Supplied
But one sister died and the other has gone into care, Wall says. Their house is next to the park and has a wide frontage to the beach. “It feels like it's the only house on the beach when you're there, you literally can't see another house.”
The house, however, is dated inside and Wall says there will likely be a new home built on the site. “I personally think it deserves a new life. It's very easy to develop due to the flat section and easy access with no long skinny driveways as is normal for those beachfront properties.
“It's been a very loved home for a long time and is ready for a new chapter.”
Andrew Dorreen from Precision Real Estate is marketing a property on Hauraki Road, at the other end of the beach. It has five bedrooms, five bathrooms and space for five cars, and it is one of the few properties where a sizeable sealegs boat can be driven straight onto the beach, he says.
The house was built in 1980 but Dorreen says it has been rebuilt and is basically a new house. It also with a wide frontage for the size of the site and two boundaries with no dwellings so there is a lot of privacy.
There has been good interest well north of the nearly $11m CV, he says.
21A Clifton Road, known as the Cullen Residence, is for sale for $9.25m. Photo / Supplied
28 Ewen Street, on Takapuna Beach, is designed by Sumich Architects. Photo / Supplied
Dorreen agrees Takapuna Beach is extremely tightly-held, noting it is unique to have so many properties for sale at once. “Generally, you might get one which might be a historic owner moving on. It is unusual. In 20 years of selling real estate in this area I haven't seen probably two on the market at once.”
Dorreen had three properties on the market at Milford Beach last year and has a new listing right on the beach. Despite the $8.25 CV, the headline on this Lawrence Sumich-designed property is “renovate or redevelop” the 1067sq m prime beachfront spot.
Dorreen says one of his Milford sales last year was a deceased estate and that a lot of owners have been in their homes for several decades. “Once there you’re not going to give up the opportunity because you’re never going to get it again.”
Back on Takapuna Beach are three adjoining properties on Park Avenue and William Street, which have a combined CV of nearly $30m.
These are owned by rich-lister and tech entrepreneur Guy Haddleton and although for sale individually together they would offer more than 2700sqm of prime beachfront land for development.
OneRoof reported last month Haddleton had planned to bowl the homes, which he acquired over a 17-year period for a total of $20m, and build a European-style mansion overlooking the beach but his plans changed following the death of his wife and son last year.
Agent Aaron Reid, of New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty, told OneRoof last month that building costs for mansions along the waterfront were hitting $30,000 per square metre and a typical section fetched $10m.
25 Park Avenue, in Takapuna, is being sold by rich-lister Guy Haddleton. Photo / Supplied
Also being sold by the same vendor is neighbouring 25A Park Avenue. Photo / Supplied
Another nearby beachfront property, on Ewen Road, is being marketed by Richard and Robert Milne of Premium, this one with a CV of $15.15m.
The five-bedroom, five-bathroom house on 845sq m of beachfront was designed by Sumich Architects, says the marketing.
A pedestrian gate enables the opportunity to step right onto the beach, and along with panoramic views the new owner will get privacy due to the planting and elevation above the beach. “This property has been in the same ownership for more than 15 years and has recently had a substantial external renovation,” says the marketing.
Another “iconic” property, this one on coveted Clifton Road, is being marketed by Louie Caunter, of Sotheby's, for $9.25m.
Caunter told OneRoof that the property, known as the Cullen Residence, was on the market for the first time in 33 years.
Caunter agrees it is “super unusual” to have so many of these properties come up at once along the water or beachfront but says his vendor has been planning his move for quite a while and the large property is now surplus to requirements.
The headline on the listing for 3A Holiday Road, in Milford, is "Renovate or Redevelop". Photo / Supplied
Multi-million-dollar homes line the beachfront at Takapuna. Photo / Fiona Goodall
Shum says in his time as a valuer it wasn’t unusual to have clients selling because the house was too big for them, recalling a woman who had been in her home for 50 years who warned him to be careful upstairs as the only rooms she really used any more were the dining, kitchen and bedroom.
Traditionally, the average time people hold their homes is “seven-ish” years but beachfront are held far longer.
Sometimes a big apartment in the same location suits people better when they are ageing - it means they don’t have to give up the area and community they love.
Shum says the upkeep on beachfront houses can be huge, saying he visited one in Minnehaha Avenue on the waterfront four or five years ago where the owner reported spending about $100,000 a year to maintain the big property.
That included rates and insurance along with the gardener and other special coastal costs, because by the coast “everything that rusts will rust”.
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