Despite Queenstown’s drop in property sales this winter, three deals in the Southern Lakes area for more than $10 million this winter have cemented the luxury-end of the market.
Mark Harris, managing director of New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty, told OneRoof that in July and August the company completed three sales deals at prices between $10m and $16m, with a fourth in negotiation.
While he was bound by strict confidentiality clauses from the buyers and sellers, Harris could say that the properties in Jack’s Point, an exclusive gated community and golf resort on the outskirts of Queenstown, and others in Wanaka and Glenorchy, around Lake Wakatipu, were secured by buyers from Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland.
“A lot were negotiated post-lockdown, there’s more and more confidence in the past year. We completed another deal with a Sydney buyer this week for $2.9m, and one for $7m a couple of months ago to a buyer who didn’t see the property in person.
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“People want to be very discreet at this level, but we’ve got buyers who missed out on the $10m-plus deals who are still looking at that level.”
Looking to spring, Harris anticipates more properties coming to market, with vendors encouraged by the top sales to capitalise on their homes’ growing values.
OneRoof data show these prices beat February’s previous top sale record of $9.5m for a five-bedroom 450sqm luxury property on Glenorchy-Queenstown Road, one of just 27 in the exclusive 1000ha Closeburn Station.
The confidential deals were with buyers from Sydney, Melbourne and Auckland. Photo / Supplied
At the end of last year, a six-bedroom property neighbouring the luxury Millbrook Resort on Arrowtown-Lake Hayes Road settled for $10.5m. Both properties were marketed by Terry Spice and Nick Horton of Luxury Real Estate.
The records could be broken if two of the country’s most expensive listings outside of Auckland sell.
A super-modern 700sqm five-bedroom home on three hectares on Wilding Road, Lake Hayes, just out of Arrowtown, is listed by Bayleys, Luxury Real Estate and NZ Sotheby’s International Realty with a search price of $15m.
An estate on Arrowtown-Lake Hayes Road, beside Millbrook Estate, was the top sale last year for $10.5m. Photo / Supplied
A property in neighbouring Haggitt Lane, Bendemeer Estate has an asking price well above that, at $18.5m.
Buyers with more modest budgets are also keen to secure homes in the area, said Bayleys Queenstown managing director David Gubb and executive director Stacy Coburn.
Since lockdown, the agency has sold seven homes under the hammer, all brought forward and selling for more than their pre-auction offers, for between $980,000 and $1.47m.
The $9.5m sale of a luxury property on Glenorchy-Queenstown Road in the exclusive Closeburn Station was the year's previous record. Photo / Supplied
Coburn said: “Five of those were to Auckland buyers. Unlike last time, it is not quite as uncertain, people know there’s life after Covid.
“At the top-end, there is a revival of interest, but not a lot of exclusive stock. So people are showing a firm desire to beat the competition to get a property.”
Gubb said that already a record 21 properties were booked for the company’s next big auction on October 8, with more expected to come in.
“It’s the most we’ve ever done. Auctions are good right now because they are the only way to establish where market prices are. But we’re also doing a lot of sales with price by negotiation, multi-offers or asking prices. “
Across in Wanaka, Bayleys owner and director Mat Andrews said that sales in the resort town were steady all winter but listings were the lowest he’s ever seen.
“There are out-of-town buyer[s] who want to transact without seeing a property, there’s a lot of frustration. We had three or four properties, some just land or older cribs, with over 20 registered bidders at auction from all over the country. “
Top money deals bring their own headaches.
Environmental groups are objecting to billionaire Peter Thiel's proposed luxury lodge on Lake Wanaka. Photo / Supplied
American tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s recent property deals are raising eyebrows, after a would-be buyer of his glass-fronted home on the hills above Queenstown put a caveat on the multi-million dollar sale to another buyer, objecting to it selling for more than he had offered earlier this month.
Controversy also hit Thiel's multi-million dollar sale of a glass house above Queenstown. Photo / Supplied
And local environmental groups are now objecting to his plans to build a luxury lodge on a 193ha block on the shores of Lake Wanaka, after stopping plans for six houses at Damper Bay 10 years ago.
President of the Upper Clutha Environmental Society, who objected last time, Julian Haworth said: “We stopped the Auckland rich-listers. Great. Now we’ve got to take on an even richer person.”
