Trophy homes are in demand on Waiheke Island, with agents reporting that buyers at the top end of the market are outnumbering those at the bottom.
Bayleys agent Mana Tahapehi told OneRoof: “At the top end, I would have more buyers with $8m to $12m to spend than I would for under $1.5m. That’s nonsensical. How does that even work?”
He said a lot his buyers were sick of popular holiday spots like Omaha and Mount Manganui and were attracted by Waiheke’s “hippy vibe”.
“They used to come here in the past, or have been owners in the past and now want to come back.
Start your property search
He said that while Waiheke Island had changed a lot in the past 20 years “you can still find a beach to yourself”.
Tahapehi, who recently brokered the eight-figure sale of a luxury five-bedroom house on Ocean View Road in Oneroa, said the challenge for buyers at the top end of the market was the lack of available stock.
This house on Ocean View Road, in Oneroa, Waiheke Island, sold for eight figures in November. Photo / Supplied
He added: “Both parties at that level like to do off-market deals.”
Other agents have reported the surge in interest in Waiheke’s luxury homes.
Wall Real Estate agent Graham Wall said that he had interest in a $10m property from people who simply couldn’t find anything to rent on Waiheke during the holidays.
With son Ollie Wall, he has just listed a sprawling six-bedroom home on nearly 1.7ha on Gordons Road, at the secluded southern end of the island.
“I’ve got a buyer who choppered in to look at it this week and another couple of families want to do a syndicate. They just couldn’t find anything to rent in the summer so they want to buy together.”
Eight years after hosting international businessman Tyler Brule of the uber-cool Wallpaper and then Monocle magazines on a hunt for a site for a global retreat on the island (and who wrote a “love letter” to Waiheke on the Financial Times that kicked off a high end tourism frenzy) Wall is still the island enthusiast.
A two-bedroom bach in Sandy Bay sold for $4.61m in March 2021 and is back on the market for $5.5m. Photo / Supplied
"There’s no place safer on earth, it just gets better and better every year. We just bought a little place ourselves and are looking for more. Waiheke is just gold.”
Another architect designed property the Walls are marketing, the prestigious Lantern House on Sea View Road, has attracted interest from international buyers who had stayed in the property, pre-Covid.
Wall said that buyers with money are clamouring for specific sites. He sold a secluded house with its own sandy beach on Orapiu Road, in Cowes Bay, in November for $7.75m, and beach-front properties in Onetangi are highly sought-after.
“There’s not a house on Onetangi beach that I couldn’t have five buyers for. The cheapest would be $5m. It goes up from there,” he said.
“In the next couple of months we’ll have a couple of very interesting properties to market. They’d be looking at $8m to $10m prices.”
A house on Orapiu Road, Cowes Bay, sold for $7.75m in November. Photo / Supplied
A property listed by Hayden Ringrose of Ray White may be a good test of how much the top end of the market as moved recently.
The two-bedroom original Kiwi bach on the beach at Great Barrier Road, in Sandy Bay, changed hands in March for $4.61m but the Australian-based owner has been unable to get back to New Zealand and now has it listed for $5.5m.
“The value is in the site [1214sqm] obviously, but valuations are telling us prices have gone up about 20% in that time,” Ringrose said.
“We’re getting slammed when new properties come to market. There are a lot of off-island buyers: some returning Kiwis or people looking on behalf of overseas family wanting to invest now, some are Aucklanders and Wellingtonians.”
Kellands agent Martin Dobson, who brokered the island’s top residential sale for 2021, a $12m estate on Park Point, said that he had clients with very specific wish-lists that haven’t found what they’re looking for.
“It’s the same with every market. Here there’s only so much land, but there does seem to be an appetite to get more remote down the eastern end where it’s a bit more secluded.
“A lot more people comment that they don’t want to get stuck in traffic going to Omaha or Coromandel. I’ve been selling here for 20 years, and I always say island living is like crossing Naples to Capri, just 30 minutes away.”
Tobias Roebuck-Ward of Waiheke Homes, who with his husband Brad Roebuck - Ward spent Christmas day inking a sale while glazing the ham for the family dinner, said that the $2.2m sale was prompted by a season’s greeting text to a buyer who’d been looking for a second home for a while.
"Buyers rely on us to keep them posted.”
A seven-bedroom lodge on Awaawaroa Road sold to New York-based New Zealanders over the holidays. Photo / Supplied
In June, Roebuck-Ward sold a cliff-top home on Alan Murray Lane, in Oneroa, for $10.25m, another house with two guest cottages on Ocean View Road sold for $9m in April, and the company closed deals for $8m and $7.5m in November. This month he sold a Mediterranean style property on Awaawaroa Road for an undisclosed sum.
“We had three offers, the buyers are New Zealanders returning home from their Manhattan penthouse. They’ll add a pool and cabana. It’s good to have another Kiwi home,” he said.
Open homes last weekend had gone mad, with a striking architect-designed three-bedroom home on View Road drawing 20 viewers.
“These are all super-qualified buyer shopping with budgets of $5m up to whatever they want. We always have off-market stock too, we’ve got ones in Onetangi, one with phenomenal views that will be in the $5m range, another new build in Onetangi that’s looking at $6m.
“These sellers prefer a more discreet way of selling. Buyers are a mix of people who’ve always had a Waiheke home on their list, others are starting to think retirement.
“They’ve sold the family home in the city for $8m to $10m, the market has rewarded them, and now they’re bringing their family for a decision on the holiday home for them all. It’s really nice to be part of that.”
