New Zealand could soon be breaking real estate records.
The super-penthouse at the top of the Pacifica, the country's tallest residential building, is up for grabs for a reported $40 million - but buyers who have an eye for luxury may have to act fast.
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Liz Scott, general manager of the Auckland tower's developers, Hengyi, told OneRoof: "We are in discussions with two parties, but nothing is unconditional so this opportunity is still available."
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The 1207sqm super-penthouse occupies the 53rd and 54th floors in tower and if it sells fitted out as per the developer's concept - currently it is just a warmshell - it would become not only New Zealand's most expensive apartment but also home, exceeding the $38.5m paid for the current record-holder, a sprawling mansion in Auckland's Orakei.
The price is high enough to put it in competition with luxury properties in global financial centres such as New York, London, and Singapore, Bloomberg recently reported.
Suzie Wigglesworth, Bayleys’ head of apartment developments, says Auckland's luxury apartment is hot right now, fuelled by interest from overseas buyers who have been eyeing up Auckland apartments big time since the pandemic.
“Certainly, since Covid hit the world the level of overseas interest in apartments, particularly in Auckland central, has grown phenomenally.”
While a foreign buyer ban exists, some apartment buildings had exemptions and those apartments are attracting big interest, Wigglesworth says.
One such building is The CAB in the Civic Quarter, where at least 25% or 30% of inquiries is from overseas.
“Many of those people have a reason to come to New Zealand, whether that be for business or they’re planning to send their children here to study, or they have some kind of connection be it permanent residency or through a relative. Obviously, with us being Covid-free or thereabouts, it’s a big drawcard for those people."
Formerly Auckland Council's HQ, The CAB is exciting buyers both in New Zealand and overseas. Photo / Supplied
She adds that overseas buyers have big budgets. “There are lots of $5m transactions [for Auckland apartments] but you very rarely get someone who comes along with $10m.”
While $5m still buys a lovely apartment, an extra $10m buys exclusivity and extras. “Generally for apartments at that price point, you’ll have exclusivity to the floor so you’ll own the whole floor, you haven’t got to share it with anybody,” Wigglesworth says.
“When you get in the lift you don’t have to stop at any floor, you’re straight up into your apartment.
“You get a lot of car parking which you might not get with other units in the building. Often that might be valet car parking or it might have a certain degree of specialty.”
The Pacifica in Auckland CBD is New Zealand's tallest residential tower. Photo / Supplied
Wigglesworth says The CAB penthouse similarly unique in design. “It’s 360 degree views really because it occupies the entire floor and it has a bit in the middle that opens up to the elements, which is like an internalised courtyard.
“You’ll often also get a lot higher specifications. You’ll get the top appliances, the most expensive flooring, kitchen bench, you name it. They generally go a bit overboard how they spec the apartments.”
Even so, buyers who can afford to pay millions of dollars often change the specs anyway.
“They often want to bring their own designers in and recalibrate the entire thing.”
A case in point are apartments in the Jervois & Lawrence Apartments in Herne Bay.
“Most of the people who were spending upwards of $5m didn’t really want what the developer had specified, they wanted to bring their own interior design flair to the apartment so many of those have ripped those apart, shall we say, and have started again.”
Wigglesworth says buyers of this calibre are looking for a trophy. “Ultimately, it’s a statement about owning a floor in that particular building. That’s really what it boils down to,” she says.
“A lot of those people are trophy property collectors. They don’t necessarily spend any time in them. They might have a beautiful chalet in the Swiss Alps, they might have something in Italy, they might have something in America.
“They’ve got a collection of property and it’s about being able to say they own the penthouse at the Pacifica.”
And while buyers of this calibre are generally foreigners, Wigglesworth says there is plenty of local money around.
“You’d be surprised. We have more wealthy people than you’d probably think we do.”
New Zealand, however, tends to have a lower level of apartment luxury compared to places like London or Sydney, and there has also been a shift from developers delivering product for empty nesters in the CBD fringe suburbs to delivering affordable apartments.
The luxury market is not going away, though.
“I think there will always be a niche for that market. I think there will always be some developers who go after that market but whether that’s the CBD or whether that’s further afield is now the question,” says Wigglesworth.
