- An executive home in Ōkitu sold for $3.5 million, breaking Gisborne's house price record.
- The five-bedroom property, with sea views and a private walkway to Ōkitu Beach, sold in five days.
- Gisborne's previous record was $3 million, for a Wainui home sold in September 2021.
A beach pad with stunning sea views has smashed Gisborne’s house price record after selling for $3.5 million within five days of hitting the market.
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The buyers made an on-the-spot offer while inspecting the five-bedroom trophy on Winifred Street, in Ōkitu.
Listing agent Bronwyn Kay told OneRoof that her vendors wanted to keep a low profile. She only used one photo of the house in the limited advertising.
Kay then reached out to her database of clients, which included a local couple who had been looking for a new home for over a year.
The vendors' hilltop home ticked their boxes. It is set on a 3409sqm section, has a private walkway to Ōkitu Beach, and boasts sea views from Tuahine to Makorori.
The expansive five-bedroom, three-bathroom home sits on a private 3409sqm section. The agent was given just one photo to use in her advertising. Photo / Supplied
“Those are big views, and you could almost see the curvature of the Earth on the horizon,” Kay told OneRoof.
“It’s probably like something you would see on Waiheke Island, where you are not really on the beach, but you are looking over it.”
The property had an RV of $3.113m and was built 18 years ago.
Kay said the record-breaking sale highlighted the strength of demand for high-end stock in Gisborne. Buyers in Ōkitu and neighbouring Wainui often already owned in the suburbs and were looking for a better spot.
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The suburbs also tended to attract buyers who were downsizing from the family farm and wanted to be closer to the city.
The Winifred Street home beat Gisborne’s previous house price record by half a million dollars. A house on Wairere Road, in Wainui, had topped the charts in 2021 when it sold for $3m.
Kay said most of Gisborne's prestige sales were in the $2m to $2.5m range - about four times the price of a typical home in the region. "This was a rare opportunity to secure something at a level that doesn't come up often.”
Still up for grabs is the land at neighbouring 91 Winifred Street. Photo / Supplied
Kay said Gisborne was still relatively affordable compared to other cities, adding that the same home in Auckland would likely cost $7m. “If you can’t afford Waiheke, you go to Wainui…. You are in the top sought-after area.”
Still up for grabs at the beach is neighbouring 91 Winifred Street. The 1.68ha section, which is listed with Ray White Alan Thorpe, has been pitched as a blank canvas for buyers looking to build their dream home. It has an RV of $1.157m and is for sale by negotiation.
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