Remuera is Auckland’s bluest of blue-chip suburbs and has some of the city’s highest real estate prices.
But tucked between the gracious Victorian and Edwardian mansions on 5000sqm sections and the thrusting architect-designed houses with eight-figure price tags are homes in the more affordable price brackets.
Much of the suburb is in the sought-after double grammar school zone – Auckland Grammar for boys, Epsom Girls. That’s enough of a drawcard for many families, and it does add a premium to property prices, but just as many buyers in the suburb send their kids to the nearby private schools of King's Prep, St Cuthbert's College and Diocesan School for Girls.
Ray White Remuera agent Steve Koerber said that while Remuera is a big suburb, with 7000 homes spreading from Broadway Park in Newmarket all the way to Meadowbank and the motorway, it has distinct corners.
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At the top end of the market are the mansions on Remuera Road, and new and old spreads on Victoria Avenue, Arney Road and Arney Crescent. Just those four streets alone accounted for 73 of New Zealand’s top 500 house sales since 2000 – and two record prices: $24m in 2017 and, at the end of 2021, a $29m sale, the country’s third most expensive home ever.
First home buyers and investors can start in the suburb with one of the 1960s built units towards Ladies’ Mile on the east of the suburb, and can expect to pay in the mid- to early-$1m, Koerber said. Trading up leads to $1.5m to $2m townhouses, usually on a shared plot, some with body corporates.
To get into a single-family home, buyers should set their budgets to start at $2m to $2.5m, and look on streets like Ngapuhi Road, which are outside double grammar zone.
For those that can afford it, Remuera offers unrivalled views of the harbour. Photo / Chris Tarpey
“But that would be on a cross-lease, no land or needing work,” he said.
“To get a nice family home on good land, the absolute entry level is $3m. People are then paying more for beautifully done up houses where they don’t have to do any work.
“That’s a real shift in the market, we’ve had auctions this year that have driven past that – one recently had six bidders and went to $3.318m like it was 2021 again.”
Younger buyers come back to the suburb when they have kids, wanting to get them into their old schools. Some may still hanker for the cool buzz of Ponsonby and Herne Bay restaurants and shops to the west of the city, but Koerber said that the somewhat staid Remuera’s shop and restaurant strip has just had a buzzy boost with the launch of the refurbished 1050 Precinct in a former Victorian-style 1970s mall behind the main street.
Bayleys agent Gary Wallace: “The real strength is local buyers, people who live in the neighbourhood.” Photo / Fiona Goodall
“It will transform the area, and bring in a younger vibe.”
The number of properties available to buy goes up and down in the suburb, from a mid-2019 high of 200 to more like 140 today. But as Remuera home-owners are not being forced to sell, they’d rather stay put if they don’t get the price they like, so competition for the desirable family homes is still high.
Bayleys agent Gary Wallace said that the top end properties, mansions that may fetch $15m to 20m, tend to stay in families a long time.
“We have quality buyers for them with that sort of money,” he said.
“And while there are ex-pats in the mix, the real strength is local buyers, people who live in the neighbourhood. They’ll often just move up the street, they’ve got children in school, their friends are all here, they want to stay on this side.”
Wallace added that for empty-nesters moving out of these big family home, stock is so limited for apartments or town houses in Remuera itself that many now extend their search to beach-front suburbs like St Heliers or Kohimarama.
“But Remuera is blue-chip, everyone wants to stay local,” he said.
TOP TWO
21 Upland Road
This grand home house in the heart of prized Double Grammar Zone was designed by noted US architect Roy Lippincott, whose work in Auckland was heavily influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright. The fact that the house has only had four owners and each has remained for many years is an indication of the success of Lippincott’s design.
Entry to the three-level home is through a classically elegant garden and along a herringbone driveway to a covered portico. The attention to detail sets the scene for the timber-panelled foyer with its beamed ceiling and broad staircase.
Despite its grandeur, the house offers many places to settle in and relax. The main living room is filled with comfortable furnishings including classic leather chairs, a wall of books and a fireplace.
The outdoor living area is a joyous, colour-filled space surrounding a pool and spa. Low stone walls define the space while topiaried plants and clipped hedges are offset by shapely urns of bright red geraniums. The paved pool surrounds accommodate casual sitting areas, and a barbecue and pizza oven. On the opposite side of the house is a large private lawn bordered by hedges and trees, and a tennis court. Listed with Graham and Ollie Wall, of Wall Real Estate, 021 951 368.
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6/186 Remuera Road
There's downsizing and there's downsizing Remuera-style. The 156sqm two-bedroom modernised ground-floor apartment at 186 Remuera Road is priced at $3,250,000. The apartment building itself sits on the site of the famous Dunholme mansion, which was burnt to the ground in 1949, and buyers will be able to enjoy the stunning views that the former grand home had from the Ridge of Rangitoto and the harbour.
The apartment is one of seven in the complex and has been transformed by noted architect Malcolm Walker. Listing agent Terry King says: “The brief was to turn the dated home into the equivalent of a modern new-build apartment, and he did, but of course this offers so much more. The entire interior was gutted and carefully rebuilt with the best quality materials available.” Listed with Terry and Diana King, of Remuera Register, 021 484 332.
