Ray White agent Ross Hawkins was sitting on the grass with clients at their first viewing of a house on Great Barrier Island when orcas swam into the bay below, hung around for a while then moved on.
He’s not saying the appearance sealed the deal but the viewers did go on to buy the Awana Bay property.
The cedar beach house overlooking the bay had been marketed in the $5 million-plus bracket and while Hawkins can’t disclose the sale price he said everyone was happy.
The property is spread across three titles and looks out over Awana, one of “the most gorgeous white sand surf beaches” in New Zealand.
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There was huge interest in the property, Hawkins told OneRoof, partly because of the very cool property but also because building opportunities are limited in the area and this property had some options.
Other than a house on the beachfront, the whole beachfront is reserve land so there will never be other houses built there, he said.
This house is one of the houses higher up and while it occupies three titles, it is actually spread across four lots.
“The main house sat on two lots which was one title and then there’s a garage with sleeping on another title and there’s a vacant title so it offered a bit of flexibility around what someone could do with it in the future.
“There’s very few places that people can buy in Awana and I think that’s why there was a lot of inquiry, because very rarely do they come up.”
The house has an industrial-type kitchen because previous owners used to cook meals for others on the island.
The interior of the off-grid bach is stylish. Photo / Supplied
The property is spread across three titles, and includes a separate boatshed/bunkhouse. Photo / Supplied
The last time the property sold, in 2018, was as a mortgagee sale, fetching $1.67m, Hawkins said.
He is seeing big demand for lifestyle and coastal properties and said the good weather may have something to do with that.
“People have been away and have had a really good summer and fallen in love with places and wanted to buy there and things, and that’s the situation on the coast.
“When you have a good summer everybody gets recharged and focused on being there.”
Great Barrier takes a bit more getting to than Waiheke Island, he said, but that’s also the beauty of the more remote islands in the Hauraki Gulf.
“They don’t develop like Waiheke does and become almost like a suburb of Auckland.
“It does mean you’ve still got a getaway from the big wide world, an unspoiled paradise, which is what people are looking for, so it’s pretty special.
The bach overlooks one of New Zealand's best white sand surf beaches. Photo / Supplied
“It’s a little bit like Stewart Island but warmer, and then when you go out from Great Barrier the eastern side of it, which is all white sand beaches and open ocean, South America is straight out there.”
Homes on Great Barrier are largely off-grid and this house is no exception.
Once, being off-grid was a little sketchy but these days the solar systems and technology is much better.
“In the old days it used to be quite challenging but now you’ve got such great systems and you’re actually environmentally friendly when you’re doing that sort of stuff, too.”
People like they can do their bit for the environment, he said, “it’s just all good stuff for the planet”.
- Click here to find more properties for sale on Great Barrier Island
