A Kiwi music producer based in Nashville has sold the Matakana dream home he built for himself and his wife.
Tom Worley and his wife Georgie had just completed the four-bedroom house on Kewini Grove, in Auckland's lifestyle fringe, when they decided to put it on the market in June.
They haven’t even had a chance to move in but the growth of Tom’s music business in the US meant the new house was surplus to requirements.
Listing agent Kellie Bissett, from Bayleys, said the new buyer was looking forward to moving in by Christmas. She declined to disclose the sale price but told OneRoof there had been multiple offers on the property, with much of the interest coming from Auckland buyers.
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“90% of them were from the eastern and central suburbs, the rest locals. The architecture was absolutely the drawcard,” she said, adding that most interested buyers were planning to make the house their primary residence.
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“People appreciate the lifestyle of being in Matakana village, of being within walking and cycling of coast and beaches.”
The house, designed by SGA architects, was intended to be a regular stopping-off point for the Worleys and their two children, but the success of their audio equipment business, Worley Sound, has kept them in America.
“We’re realists, we want to be present where we are. It’s really hard to have something in another time zone, the more that we thought about it we took the decision to be here in Nashville,” Georgie told OneRoof in June.
“It is harder for Tom to let go of the house."
Tom’s company provides audio equipment for global band tours such as Brit indie rock trio alt-J, Australian psych-rockers Tame Impala and Australian singer/songwriter Tash Sultana, but he earned his stripes at Coachella when the couple were based in Los Angeles.
The house, designed by SGA Architects' Roy Tebbutt, takes inspiration from modern Belgian and American mid-century design. Photo / Supplied
They relocated to music-city Nashville two years ago, so didn’t get to live in their dream village home. “I came home in September last year as the house was being finished,” Tom told OneRoof in June.
“I worked with landscape architect Alex Luiten of Landscape and Ecology with Feature Landscapes doing the building. He was amazing. He had such vision and was so receptive to ideas, it was a real collaboration. The courtyard was very important to us.”
Tom’s mum also stepped in to help set up the house for its Airbnb clients.
Like many overseas Kiwis, the Worleys had made plans to return home after Covid struck. They bought land for a new build and brought on board architect Roy Tebbutt of Strachan Group Architects.
“Roy was the most incredible person to deal with, he was so collaborative, I loved it,” Georgie said, of the design process, which kicked off in mid-2021. The 18-month build started in March 2022.
Interior designer Amelia Holmes helped fit out the house for letting over the summer, and the luxury home was listed from $4095 per week, before hitting the market for sale.
The designer kitchen, which has a hidden pantry, opens to both the courtyard and the dining loggia. Photo / Supplied
Bissett said the Matakana and coastal market has shown a huge uptick in interest and sales in the past six weeks or so, with sales Bissett told OneRoof this week that the Matakana and coastal market had shown a huge uptick in interest and sales in the past month, with sale prices ranging from $1.5m for an entry-level home to $10m for a coastal lifestyle property.
Bissett said that there were always buyers waiting for “important addresses".
“These are generational properties. Sometimes they take years to come to market, but when they do, there are always buyers,” she said.
Bissett said vendors were sensing a change in mood, with a flurry of listings now getting ready to launch.
Bissett is also marketing the lifestyle block that former TV star Mark Lieshman is selling. The former host of Tux Wonder Dogs is seeking offers for his 1.1ha lifestyle block at 7 Rosemount Road, Matakana.
The mood is also changing in neighbouring Omaha.
Precision agent Di Balich said vendors had retreated during winter but deals were starting to take place, telling OneRoof she knew of two sales in the exclusive beach enclave in the last month.
The Matakana lifestyle home of TV's Tux Wonder Dogs couple, Mark Leishman and Jo Raymond, is on the market. Photo / Supplied
“They were both direct deals between vendors and buyers. One was about $4.5m to $5m for a one-back [from the beach] property, while the other was for a beachfront home. They won't be public for a while," she said.
"Right now, there are officially only six or seven properties on the market, and about the same unofficially,” she said, adding that she had just quietly listed six properties, at price points ranging from $5m to $8m.
Vendors weren't desperate and were rebuffing offers that fell short of expectations.
"People were offering up to 20% below what you'd get in the open market. But vendors don't have to sell. You're not getting their property in this environment at a silly price," she said.
"Vendors know there are only so many properties in Omaha."- Click here to find more properties for sale in Auckland
