A Waiheke Island home that featured in 2017’s Grand Designs television programme sold last month for $3.55 million, $1.2m above its council valuation.
The Tauranga couple who built the three-bedroom home on Coromandel Road in Oneroa, Robyn and David Shea, sold the property to focus on their business, said Paul Brisbane of Waiheke Homes who brokered the sale. The Auckland buyers plan to use the house as a holiday getaway.
He told OneRoof that there was big demand for good properties on the island, with another new build just two doors down selling two months ago for the same price.
“We contacted everyone who had enquired about that one and missed out. There’s a lot of demand and right now, only 12 or 13 houses for sale.
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“A lot of people at the top end don’t want to do anything to a house, they just want to move in. Some will buy everything in the house, right down to the cutlery in the drawers.”
The striking three-bedroom house in the bush was designed by local architect Vaughan McQuarrie. Photo / Supplied
The house was designed by local architect Vaughan McQuarrie, tucked into native bush but surrounded by a flat grassy garden. It has views over Sandy Bay to Oneroa Beach with Rangitoto in the background, and still has the original corrugated iron bach “Geoff’s Shack” that the Sheas used as temporary accommodation during the build.
Demand is high at the upper end of the Waiheke market. At the other end of Coromandel Road, a pair of do-up houses sold under the hammer earlier this month, one for $3.501m and the second for $2.55m. Bayleys agent Mandy Brown, who marketed the properties with Holly Brown, told OneRoof that there were many buyers with budgets of $3m or more unable to find houses.
Another Grand Designs home from the same 2017 season is still on the market – a luxurious house on Slipper Island, off Tairua on the Coromandel Peninsula.
Another 2017 Grand Designs house on Slipper Island, off the Coromandel Peninsula, is still on the market. Photo / Supplied
Building the three-bedroom house nearly drove its creator, property developer Sky Mason, to the brink dealing with restricted access, but ended up netting him a prestigious gold reserve finalist at the Master Builders House of the Year 2018.
OneRoof records show the 5348sqm land sold for $500,000 in 2013 and Mason spent $1.5m building the nautically-themed getaway, complete with a helipad, jetty and a stunning view of the Coromandel. Off the grid features include gas, solar power, a commercial grade generator and large water tanks.
The agent marketing the property, Gregers Andersen of New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty, said that while the deadline sale for the end of July had passed, and the vendor had turned down an offer, interest was still high with several parties, including one from Australia, doing due diligence.
“An island is a small buyer pool but for some people at that stage in life, it’s a lifestyle. We’ve had a couple from Australia interested. In fact, I was meant to be taking someone out there Friday so we’ll have to wait to do viewings.”
A Grand Designs house from the 2018 season, the Jetty House in Mangawhai, north of Auckland, sold under the hammer for $4m in November. Photo / Supplied
In November last year, one of the more memorable Grand Designs houses from the 2018 season, the Jetty House at Mangawhai sold under the hammer in front of a crowd of about 150 people for $4m.
The five-bedroom house on Molesworth Drive beat local prices that generally top out below $3m, the ReMax agent Nola Kloppers, who marketed the house with Ben Kloppers and Charlotte Wilson, told OneRoof at the time.
The builders, Patty and Geoff Coley, created a buzz when their efforts to build the Jetty House with recycled materials featured on the hit show.
Included in the sale were the historic photos of Wellington wharf, the source of the house’s huge recycled beams, gifted to the Coleys by Grand Designs NZ. The Coleys are now working on another build project.
