- A waterfront bach on Waiheke sold for $8.2m, significantly above its 2001 purchase price.
- A nearby luxury property on Delamore Drive sold for $9m, attracting interest from Australian buyers and expats.
- Buyer activity on Waiheke has been strong, with interest from US, European and Asian buyers.
Waiheke Island's housing market started 2025 with a bang. A classic bach sold for $8.2 million at the end of January while a nearby luxury spread fetched $9m. Both are signs of big deals to come, with agents telling OneRoof wealthy buyers are circling desirable spots on the island.
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The sale of the smart holiday home on Beach Parade, Oneroa, was noteworthy for several reasons. While the sale price was slightly below RV, it was more than $7m above what the vendor paid in 2001.
The 1000sqm Beach Parade site was split over two titles, with OneRoof records showing the vendor bought one site for $182,500, and then the one next door several months later for $365,000.
Also selling for big money was a luxury estate on Delamore Drive, in Oneroa. The property fetched $9m in January. Photo / Supplied
According to the Bayleys listing on OneRoof, the bach was “originally crafted in the 1920s under the guidance of Jasper Calder, an Anglican vicar and health camp pioneer”.
The property includes the main residence, which boasts widescreen views of the beach and water, and a detached guest cottage. The listing agent, Mana Tahapehi, had pitched the site as having development potential. He told OneRoof the property had sold to a New Zealand buyer who had been looking for some time. “They definitely didn’t decide overnight to spend $8m. At this level, on the buyer side, it’s a little bit of wait and see," he said.
“Not a lot of people need to sell, and not a lot of people need to buy, so it’s a little bit of a standoff. I don’t think anyone needs to spend $10m or $15m, unless it’s a pretty good buy.”
The sale of a four-bedroom luxury bach designed by the award-winning Strachan Group Architects on Oneroa’s Delamore Drive was concluded by Graham and Ollie Wall, of Wall Real Estate, at the start of the year. The $9m sale price was in line with the agents’ predictions and more than $3m above RV.
The agents also sold another high-end home on the same street in December for more than $8m.
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Ollie Wall told OneRoof Australian buyers and expats had expressed interest in the houses. “We’ve had a few from Australia and we’ve had a bunch of expats thinking about heading back to New Zealand. People go, ‘Maybe we’ll just move back and buy a big house in Waiheke and live there’.
“Interestingly, the Aussies we were talking to weren’t looking at Queenstown, just Waiheke and Matakana. The Delamore Drive properties were appealing because they are close enough to all the shops and the ferry.”
Mark Spitz, Bayleys Waiheke branch manager, said buyer activity on the island had been strong over the summer months, particularly from overseas buyers.
“We’ve had a lot better engagement from buyers – both domestic and international. The online enquiry has been good, but we’ve also had a lot of people from offshore visiting the island and viewing properties,” he said.
Spitz told OneRoof that he had buyers from the United States, Europe and Asia looking at properties on the island.
“They are well versed in what the requirements would be for them to buy. They’ve got a really good understanding of what the rules are now and where they are likely to be in the future,” he said.
Another Delamore Drive spread sold for more than $8m at the end of last year. Photo / Supplied
“At the top end of the market, you’re dealing with people who are receiving very good advice. When they find something that ticks their boxes, they are in a position to make it happen.”
Spitz added: “These are successful people and they have a particular shopping list in mind. That luxury property market, that $5-plus million, is certainly exciting.”
The real estate industry is waiting to see if the Government makes further changes to New Zealand’s foreign investment rules or overturns the foreign buyer ban.
“Everyone’s waiting to hear. The attitude is there’s light at the end of the tunnel, hearing what we’re hearing,” he said, adding that the overseas buyers his office had been working with this summer were doing their due diligence based on current regulations.
Spitz said that the entry-level market, properties below the $1.5m bracket, has also been brisk this summer, with over 90 open homes over the last three weekends. “We’re really positive about the market at the moment.”
On the market for sale is a waterfront bach at 31 The Strand, in Onetangi. Photo / Supplied
The large corner property boasts clear views of the beach. Photo / Supplied
Location and land size seem to be the main drivers of interest and price at the moment. New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agents Chris Jones and Jamie McLaughlan, who are marketing a 1920sqm beachfront site at Onetangi, told OneRoof such offerings were few and far between.
While Jones declined to comment on the price expectations for 31 The Strand, which goes to auction on March 23, he said two big sales elsewhere on the strip – $8m for a 1980s-era bach in April last year and $11m for a corner site across the road from Charlie Farley’s – were an indication of what buyers were prepared to pay.
“It’s one of the premium locations on Waiheke,” he said of 31 The Strand. Last year, the vendor listed the site they owned next door but withdrew it from the open market just before Christmas.
“31 The Strand is nearly 2000sqm of flat land. The vendor is selling the property with resource-consented plans for a new build. It’s a pretty rare offering,” Jones said.
Jones said the four-bedroom 1980s bach was perfectly livable and that some buyers were considering renovating it. He said at the upper end of the market build costs could exceed $2m.
He said that the agents had “good interest” from buyers.
“People want to secure a beautiful piece of Waiheke in these sorts of locations. They want to secure them and lock them away, even if they don’t have an appetite to do something now, it’s something they can do in the future.”
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