A house in New Zealand’s most expensive street costs millions of dollars more than buying in any other street and would take a minimum gross income of $1.6m a year to service a mortgage.
Ray White analysed the country’s most expensive real estate sales for the year and found in terms of median sale prices Auckland’s top ten streets were millions of dollars ahead of the rest, followed by multimillion dollar roads in Queenstown.
Median sale prices in Wellington and Canterbury’s most expensive streets were neck and neck.
The priciest street in the country was Marine Parade on the waterfront in Herne Bay where the median sale price is $11.5m and where the lot sizes, and the houses, are large and private.
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Australia-based Ray White data analyst William Clark says an 80% loan on an $11.5m property there comes to $9.2m, taking the monthly mortgage payments to just below $60,000.
“You’d therefore need a minimum gross income of $1.6m or thereabouts to service the loan, and a cash deposit of $2.3m excluding transaction costs.”
It’s unlikely many who live there, though, require a mortgage.
In October, OneRoof reported a waterfront Spanish-style villa in the street had sold to ZURU billionaires Nick and Matt Mobray for just over $24m.
While OneRoof understands the sale was completed by Wall Real Estate, the Walls were not commenting, however, Ollie Wall told OneRoof for this story the Walls had sold the most expensive house on Marine Parade this year, and also one on Burwood Crescent in Remuera, both for over $20m.
Burwood Cresent is the ninth most expensive street in the country, according to the Ray White data, coming in with a median sale price of $4.7m.
Wall says Marine Parade is a quiet, northwest facing street on the waterfront in arguably New Zealand’s best suburb, and Burwood Crescent in Remuera is similar.
“They are one-offs in their suburbs. The only reason to go into those streets is if you live there or if you're looking at fancy houses."
The quiet, safe streets wrap around the waterfront and face the best way for sunshine, “so they will always be incredibly valuable streets for that reason”.
Clark says Marine Parade’s big median sale price is a surprise given New Zealand is a small country to have such a high-end luxury property market.
The second most expensive street is Karori Crescent in Orakei, with a median sale price of $8.5m, followed by Inanga Lane in the wealthy beach enclave of Omaha where the median is $7.75m, and other multimillion dollar Auckland streets include Arney Crescent, Ranui Road and Westbourne Road in Remuera, as well as Ocean View Road in Milford and Audrey Road in Takapuna.
Wall Real Estate agent Ollie Wall, right, with father Graham and brother Andrew: "The only reason to go into those streets is if you live there or if you're looking at fancy houses." Photo / Fiona Goodall
Queenstown’s Lower Shotover Road in Speargrass Flat took out Otago’s most expensive street with a median sale price of $4.65m, while The Crescent in Roseneath was Wellington’s with a $2.579m median sale price, which was just pipped by Queens Avenue in Merivale in Christchurch, which was Canterbury’s most expensive street at $2.58m.
Clark says New Zealand’s expensive streets have large lot sizes, tend to be away from a main road and have river, beach or national park frontage or views, and they have access to a nearby city which has good employment or career opportunities.
The buyers want a certain lifestyle along with quiet, privacy, comfort and convenience, and tend to be very wealthy individuals running successful companies or who are in high-powered executive roles.
“Whatever the most lucrative occupation is in each region chances are they’re occupied by the people owning these houses,” says Clark.
Queenstown attracts wealthy buyers from overseas wanting holiday homes, some of Wellington’s most expensive streets are elevated with spectacular views of the harbour, and Canterbury’s have fantastic build quality, and large lots.
Sometimes the expensive properties are outside of the city, which differs to Australia where the top luxury is usually found inside the city but highly concentrated around the coast and beaches, Clark says.
“While this is often the case in New Zealand, too, a place like the Coromandel would be more expensive in Australia, while a place like Remuera would be less expensive as it is further away from the beach. It's an odd cultural observation.”
Wall says while homes in the expensive streets attract big price tags they don’t all drip in gold.
“Despite popular opinion wealthy people in New Zealand are quite understated usually and often very stylish people, too.”
People don’t live there to show off but rather to enjoy the best Auckland has to offer, which is waterfront, views and sunshine, and there is always a waiting list of people who want to move in.
Buyers in the most expensive streets are also usually “pretty well-established” and Wall says if they have enough money to buy a $20m house they are likely to also own a holiday house in one of the other expensive streets, such as in Omaha and Queenstown.
Hamish Walker, director of Walker & Co real estate in Queenstown, says Lower Shotover Road is a semi-rural and is in the golden triangle of real estate in the town.
Queenstown agent Hamish Walker says buyers in the district's most expensive spots include "high-level CEOs that are currently running the largest companies in New Zealand and Australia”. Photo / Supplied
He was surprised the median sale price was not higher than $4.65m, saying a basic entry level home costs in the mid-$4 millions with the majority of properties selling between $4m and $9m, but he says the lower median could be due to some section sales which may have dragged it median down.
Slopehill Road, which is off Lower Shotover road, has seen two big sales in the last year, one for $12.5m and one for just over $7m, and a couple of years ago a house in nearby Mooney Road sold for over $19m.
Arrowtown Lake Hayes Road is the second most expensive road in Queenstown with a $4.25m median sale price, but Walker says lakefront houses can range from mid-$4 million to well over $10m.
People are attracted by the beauty and also because the airport is not far away.
“It’s very desirable and you’ve got views directly up to Coronet Peak and also back towards the Remarkables.”
He thinks around two thirds of owners live there full time while the rest are holiday home owners mostly from Auckland and Australia.
Owners are a real mix. "You've got people that had large farms for a number of years all the way out to high-level CEOs that are currently running the largest companies in New Zealand and Australia.”
In Christchurch, top Harcourts Grenadier agent Alison Aitken is very familiar with the city’s most expensive streets – though she considers one not on the top ten list to be the most expensive, saying homes on some streets are so tightly-held they hardly ever come to market.
“Helmores Lane is probably the most expensive street in Christchurch, and Desmond Street, but you see you don't have many sales in Desmond St.”
Queens Avenue in Merivale was the top of the list at a median sale price of $2.58m but Aitken says she sold a property in Helmores Lane, which accesses Hagley Park, in October last year for $6.8m, and a blank piece of land recently sold there for around $4m.
A lot of big “incredible” new homes built since the earthquakes have yet to go to market in Helmores Lane, she says.
A lot of the expensive streets in Christchurch, such as Queens avenue and Fendalton Road, are popular because of the school zones and the proximity to the park and a lot of buyers who are just hard-working families, Aitken says.
“There's executives there, there's people that have moved down from other parts of the country, there's families that have lived in there for generations, there's hard working people that have managed to have a few houses and move up the property ladder.”
Mike Lovell, sales director for New Zealand Sotheby's International Realty in Wellington, says Wellington has a mix of mid-price to multimillion homes on the same streets which can skew the median sale price and some of the expensive streets are rural, although still near to the city.
Two and three on the list were Murphys Road ($2.4m) and Flightys Road ($2.355m) in Judgeford, a rural suburb in Porirua. At the time of writing, Lovell was selling a sprawling executive home in Murphys Road.
The roads are about 20 minutes from Wellington City with lush rolling green hills which attract people with horses or who want a small hobby farm, Lovell says.
Another on the list, Bing Lucas Drive ($2.312m) in Tawa, is also rural featuring big homes on two acre plots in the $2.5m to $4m+ bracket.
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