Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has sold the last of his rental units in Auckland's Onehunga.
The two-bedroom brick and tile unit had been slated to be sold under the hammer earlier this month but Luxon pulled the property from auction at the last minute and put a fixed price of $930,000 on it - almost 20% below its CV of $1.15 million.
The property was declared as "sold" on the listing agent's website, although the sale price has not yet been made public.
Luxon, who bought the two-bedroom unit for $620,500 in May 2015, got $930,000 in September for his other Onehunga rental property, another two-bedroom brick-and-tile unit on the same street.
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The same month he offloaded a Wellington apartment he had bought in September 2020 for $795,000. The sale came just before his move into the newly renovated Premier House. Luxon reportedly got $975,000 for the apartment.
All three rental properties were mortgage-fee, according to RNZ reporting, with the gross profits from the two September sales totalling $310,000. None of the sales would be subject to tax.
Luxon also owns several other properties, including family homes in Auckland’s Remuera and on Waiheke Island, as well as a property in his electorate of Botany.
The two-bedroom unit in Auckland's Onehunga was listed in October and sold earlier this week. It had been pitched at first-home buyers, investors and downsizers. Photo / Supplied
Luxon sold another two-bedroom investment property in the same suburb for $930,000 in September. Photo / Supplied
When asked about the sales last month, Luxon told Newstalk ZB host Heather Du Plessis-Allan: “As I said from my first day in politics, I’m a kid whose parents left school at 16, I went to university, did well in the world, successful, I get it. And I’ve chosen to come into politics because I want to add back to New Zealand.
“If we’re going to criticise people for being successful, let’s be clear - I’m wealthy.”
Earlier this year, Luxon came under pressure for claiming the parliamentary allowance for MPs outside of the capital for his Wellington apartment. At first Luxon said the claims were “within the rules”, but then reversed course, calling the furore over the issue a “distraction”.
“I have decided today that I will no longer claim the allowance and will repay anything I have received since I became Prime Minister,” he said in March. The Herald reported that the U-turn meant Luxon would pay back $13,000.
The agent’s listing for Luxon’s brick and tile unit in Onehunga described the property as a “solid start” for first-time buyers, but also highlighted its appeal to downsizers and investors.
Onehunga was recently named by OneRoof as one of New Zealand’s top 100 suburbs to watch. It came in at number 18, scoring highly on amenities, employment and ownership mix. According to the latest OneRoof figures, the suburb’s average property value has grown $131,000 in the last five years, but has slipped 7% in the last 12 months.
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