- Former London solicitor Jeanette Mackay jumped at the chance to sell property on Stewart Island Rakiura.
- Properties don’t change hands that often but agents get a lot of enquiries from wistful buyers.
- The island’s median sale price is $450,000, with properties on the market ranging from $175,000 to $854,000.
Setting foot on Stewart Island Rakiura is like stepping back in time, to a lifestyle many imagine New Zealand used to offer.
Start your property search
So says Todd & Co’s Jeanette Mackay who swapped her former life as a London-based solicitor for gumboots and raincoats to sell property at the bottom of the world.
Mackay doesn’t tend to hold open homes. Because she lives on the island, she arranges viewings to suit. The market runs at a slower pace compared to the mainland, she told OneRoof.
“Properties, as a rule, don’t tend to change hands that often on the Island. Most long-term residents don’t move house and holiday homes frequently stay in the same family for generations.”
This 850sqm bush-clad site at 11 Rata Street is close to town and has a $175,000 price tag. Photo / Supplied
Those looking for something more substantial can get a three-bedroom home at 133 Horseshoe Bay Road for $854,000. Photo / Supplied
Despite this, the island remained popular and properties sought after, “particularly given the fact that over 85% of the island is national park therefore there is limited availability”, she said.
As of December, there were nine properties for sale on Stewart Island, six of them listed with Mackay, ranging from a $175,000 bush-clad section to a three-bedroom home looking for $854,000 and a five-bedroom lodge that comes with a restaurant.
The island has a median sale price of $450,000, although properties in the popular Halfmoon Bay typically sell for around $550,000.
In recent months, a 140sqm two-bedroom home on Halfmoon Bay’s Excelsior Road sold for $460,000 while a 946sqm section on the same road sold for $255,000.
Discover more:
- Couple use their Auckland deposit to buy house in Gore mortgage-free
- Vendor willing to shave $1m off the price of Airbnb super villa
- 'S***, we can't afford this': Homeowners fear they'll lose everything
Mackay said she dealt with all sorts of buyers. She has sold homes to young couples looking to settle down to Kiwis “looking to leave the rat race and find a more relaxed lifestyle”, and to those just looking for a different kind of holiday home. Investors not so much, though.
According to the 2018 Census, 408 people live on the 1570 square kilometres island, mostly in the settlement of Oban.
“Given the small population, many clients and customers become lifelong friends and I have a good relationship with the local business sector,” Mackay said.
Todd & Co has been involved in Southland real estate since 1865. When the agency’s sales rep on the island retired, Mackay “jumped at the opportunity” to take the role, which she said had been “extremely rewarding”.
The island’s main town is Oban. Photo / Getty Images
“I find the constant changes in the market fascinating and love the quirky nature of conducting real estate on the island where power suits and heels are swapped for gumboots and waterproofs and viewings often incorporate an impromptu tour of the island.”
A ferry from Bluff takes about an hour to reach the island and a plane from Invercargill takes about 20 minutes.
Mackay said it was difficult to imagine “a more dramatic change in either location or vocation”.
“From working as a solicitor in London to a real estate salesperson on Stewart Island, it’s certainly been quite the journey,” she said.
Mackay said the island had a close-knit community, a more relaxed lifestyle, unspoiled scenery, boating, fishing, hiking, and hunting “and the sense that you are stepping back in time – New Zealand the way it used to be”.
Harcourts Invercargill’s Gus Dermody said the island had global appeal, especially with the Covid-19 pandemic fanning enthusiasm from off-shore buyers.
Church Hill Boutique Lodge and Restaurant is one of the listings on the island up for grabs. Photo / Supplied
Dermody is based in Invercargill and looks after sections for sale on the island, including a listing of a 946sqm block with panoramic views of the coast, town, and harbour.
“It would be different if I had places with houses and had to show people through and all of that. That would mean a ferry trip every time.”
In Dermody’s three years of having Stewart Island listings, he’s had about 200 enquiries “from all over the world”.
“At one stage I had 33 different countries, I counted them.”
Dermody suspected Covid-19 prompted some people to explore “safe” places to move to but generally, demand came mostly from people looking to set up holiday homes, “a place they can go to for a month or three weeks”.
He has been over twice in the past year.
- Click here to find more properties for sale on Stewart Island
