More mid-to-high end apartments in Hamilton are coming to market, with some of the city’s newest luxury pads set to smash the price record in the city.
Hills Apartments, the first stage of the Hills Village development, is due to be completed in the next two months and, with an asking price of $2.5m, the penthouse is likely to become the city’s most expensive apartment.
An apartment above Madam Woo on Sapper-Moore Jones Pl that sold for $1.7m last October currently holds the title of Hamilton’s top apartment sale in the last two years, according to figures from OneRoof’s data partner, Valocity.
The price of high-end apartments in Hamilton still seems cheap compared to other centres. In Auckland, one of the penthouses at the top of the Seascape tower has been reserved for $24m, while the super penthouse in the neighbouring Pacifica tower has a list price of $30m.
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And in Tauranga, a five-bedroom penthouse in Mt Maunganui sold for $10.2m in December last year.
But with several more high-end apartment blocks under construction in the city – including the Anzac Apartments, One Cook St and 28Harwood - even the penthouse at the top of the Hills Apartments is unlikely to hold the record for long.
Lodge Hamilton East branch manager Basil Lennan, who with James Walsh is marketing both the apartments in the new Hills Village development and another called One Cook St that is due to start construction this year, said once some of these properties are settled then they will definitely break records.
The penthouses in the architecturally designed Hills Apartments and soon-to-be developed Anzac Apartments, both in the Hills Village development, are under contract.
An artist's impression of One Cook Street, in Hamilton East. Photo / Supplied
The 201sqm three-bedroom, two-bathroom penthouse in the Hills Apartments on Clyde St was marketed as the “ultimate in urban living” complete with two balconies. The apartments have a common green space, 25-metre lap pool and varying degrees of river views.
There are 19 apartments in the original Hills Village building and the only three remaining are courtyard apartments priced from $959,000.
The Anzac Apartments are now being sold off-plan and the five apartments currently listed for sale are priced between $1.75m and $2.35m. Work on the building is about to start.
Lennan said there is definitely an appetite for apartment living in Hamilton.
“There’s a lot of talk about the city going up and there are a lot of examples of that within the city.”
When he first started selling the Hills Apartments two years ago they had expected the apartments would sell from the bottom level up, but what actually happened is they sold from the top down.
“So, we sold the penthouse, the loft levels – they went first, then the courtyard started to go after that. It was pretty phenomenal the way it all came about and that did surprise us.”
There is a mix of people buying the apartments – but most of the people buying were from within the Waikato.
“These are people that are coming off large plots of land or just downsizing or changing their lifestyle. We’ve had a few younger people as well look at them and take them on from a professional point of view. That’s how they want to live,” he said.
An artist's impression of 28 Harwood Street, in Hamilton Central. Photo / Supplied
“I just think it’s an exciting time for that part of the market. Hamilton is very much in its infancy really when you think about it if you compare it to the Auckland market.”
With the two new apartment complexes underway along with other commercial developments including the indoor market and eatery Made in the former Waikato Regional Council building, he said there is already talk of Hamilton East being the Ponsonby of Hamilton. “To be fair it is what it might end up like. It may well head in that direction. It’s got great cafes and restaurants and opportunities for retailers and the like around here.”
Lennan said the Parkhaven apartments on Tristram St in Hamilton’s CBD completed three-years ago was one of the first blocks with a “better spec and better style” of apartment and the Hamilton East apartment blocks are another step-up again. The Parkhaven penthouse sold in September 2021 for $1.4m.
Bayleys Hamilton real estate agent Rachel Waldegrave sold the $1.7m Sapper-Moore Jones Pl apartment last year and said the price was definitely justified because it was spacious and had river views.
“We found when we were marketing it that there is a real appetite for high-end apartment living in Hamilton now.”
Until then there had been a gap in the market for premium quality apartments, she said.
“People have a desire to downsize say for example from a large family home in Tamahere into town because perhaps their children have left home – that type of thing – but there just wasn’t the product in terms of anything high calibre for them to look at.”
Waldegrave is also selling the apartments in the former Opus Building which also promise luxury apartment living. One of the two penthouses at 28Harwood is already under contract and both will be in excess of $2.5m.
At the other end of the price scale, 6/641 Victoria Street, in Hamilton Central. Photo / Supplied
While the apartments range from $800,000 for a one-bedroom apartment to $1.5m for a three-bedroom apartment. The complex is expected to be finished next year.
It was only natural Hamilton followed some of the other bigger centres and moved to a more urban way of living, she said.
“It’s logical that there’s a bit of a return to living in the CBD and our CBD is becoming more and more vibrant and it’s a really interesting place to live... there's so much entertainment and dining options that are literally on your doorstep if you are living in that area which is really cool.”
Harcourts Hamilton director Campbell Scott said Hamilton had been a bit slower to the apartment party and for a long time didn’t have higher-end apartments within the CBD.
“We had a lot of entry-level or mid-level price point properties that were probably more suited to maybe the investment market or smaller first home market type of purchases.”
The entry level apartments are still available such as the one Harcourts is selling at 6/649 Victoria St for $429,000.
But in the last few years, he said developments such as Hills Village in Hamilton East and 28Harwood had completely changed the city’s apartment make-up and there were now a lot more middle-high end luxury apartments.
Last year Lugton’s also released plans for a major six-storey mixed use development, called Northern Green, at its current head office on Victoria St.
There are also another five or six complexes in the pipeline for the CBD – although some had been put on hold due to changes in the market.
“We are about to get this influx of really cool, new apartment stuff and it’s just gone a little bit quiet again.”
