Affordability remains a problem for many New Zealand suburbs, but not in Herne Bay, where the real estate agency with the country’s most expensive listing have just completed a swag of real estate deals.
Wall Real Estate agent Ollie Wall told OneRoof the agency sold five multi-million-dollar homes in the suburb in the last couple of weeks, including a mansion on Hamilton Road which fetched more than $10 million.
Wall declined to reveal the total value of the deals but said the Hamilton Road property was not the only one to get more than eight figures.
“People have been looking and looking but now they’re confident it’s the right time to buy. People we’ve been dealing with for a long time, who were getting close to sales for the last year or so but had the speed wobbles, are now moving,” he said.
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The company sees this as the start of a market rebound in the blue-chip suburb, with founder Graham Wall declaring: “We’re on the verge of a surge.
“In the middle of winter, you can sometimes forget that we live in a country with a golden future. We’re talking to expats coming home and Americans who think this is the greatest place on earth, and now is the time to buy.”
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The Hamilton Road sale was a case of déjà vu for the Walls. The agents had sold the five-bedroom home to the vendors three years ago for $12m.
The house was to be the vendors’ temporary base while they renovated another grand villa in the suburb.
When it changed hands in 2021, the house was part of a mansion shuffle in Herne Bay worth more than $60m. The previous owners had bought it four months earlier for $11m but decided to sell after picking up a waterfront pad on nearby Argyle Street for $20m.
The home’s previous owners included Geoff Ross and Justine Troy, who shot to fame with their 42BELOW vodka brand. Eight years ago, rich-lister entrepreneur Diane Foreman had renovated the house with designer James Doole, buying it for $6m and selling it months later, newly upgraded, for $9.15m.
The Hamilton Road owners had bought the house as a temporary stop while they renovated another mansion nearby. Photo / Supplied
Wall said that the buyers of the Hamilton Road house had always admired it and had been looking for some time before they “pulled the trigger,” a pattern he said the company had been seeing all winter.
Graham and Ollie pointed out that the five deals, two of which were off-market, had been in the works for months. One deal had been done within four weeks of the property going on the market but had a long settlement period while the buyer sold their old place, also in Herne Bay.
One of the listed properties was a five-bedroom house on Wolseley Avenue, which sat on a valuable 1023sqm of land. The 1940s house, marketed as a do-up opportunity, had a CV of $5.6m. The Walls also found a buyer for an immaculately renovated four-bedroom home on Sarsfield Street. It last changed hands in mid-2022 for $6.22m, and included garaging for six cars, rare in the neighbourhood. Wall could not reveal the exact sale prices for either property.
An immaculately renovated house on Sarsfield street sold after three months on the market. Photo / Supplied
A 1940s house on Wolseley Avenue, around the corner from Herne Bay's Marine Parade, was under contract within a month of listing but finally settled last week. Photo / Supplied
“The overarching thing is these deals were coming to fruition right as interest rates were coming down and without a doubt that is spurring a whole lot of action. As soon as the rates cut, we saw people coming out of the woodwork,” Ollie said, adding that most of his clients didn’t need to borrow to fund their house buying.
“We talk to a lot of interesting people who know a hell of a lot more about the economy than we do, and all of a sudden there’s a lot more positivity.
“They want to know they’re buying in a market that’s going up and now everyone’s confident that’s the case. There’s a strong sentiment that the bottom is behind us and the gains are ahead of them.”
The renovated waterfront mansion at 27 Marine Parade, in Herne Bay, Auckland, is for sale by way of negotiation but is expecting over $40m, the agents say. Photo / Supplied
But Ollie pointed out apart from Wolseley Avenue, none of the properties needed a major renovation job.
“We desperately need more of these houses that are done nicely and people can move straight in. It’s not just about the time [to do a renovation] it’s more about certainty, the price of building and getting consents and things. People will pay a premium to have it all done.”
Ollie said he had a list of some 20 to 30 buyers with budgets from $5m to $10m who are looking for beautifully renovated family homes in Herne Bay, and further afield in Grey Lynn, Ponsonby, Freemans Bay and Westmere.
The Walls are also marketing developer Kurt Gibbons’ Marine Parade mansion, which is looking for more than $40m, as well as several off-market properties in the same price bracket. They said they had been recently approached by representatives from American billionaires (some with New Zealand passports) who are interested in moving to New Zealand.
Graham said he expects the foreign investor rules will have to be changed soon, even if just with a price cut-off around the heady $10m mark.
“From our perspective, if we allowed [foreign] people to buy over $10m, not one single New Zealander would be disadvantaged, but every single New Zealander would be advantaged, everyone wins as they support the local community.
“We have a truly golden future, everyone on earth loves us and is talking us up. I’m the most optimistic person in New Zealand and its biggest cheerleader.”
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