A luxury home on Waiheke Island sold over the Christmas holidays for a price that was expected to break 2022’s island price record.
Tenders for the seven-bedroom home on 5ha on Orapiu Road, Omaru Bay, closed in mid-December and NZ Sotheby’s International Realty agent Pene Milne, who marketed the property, said the deal was closed soon after. Confidentiality clauses mean the price can’t be revealed until it settles February.
At the time the property went on the market in November, Milne told OneRoof that with the strong luxury market on the island, the immaculately renovated Sumich Chaplin-designed property could create a holiday house price record.
“Waiheke is such a special place geographically,” Milne said, adding that the seclusion of the south eastern corner of the island is very hard to replicate anywhere else. The property is a five-minute drive from the Orapiu wharf and the car ferry is 25 minutes away.
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“This was one of the best properties I’ve ever had the privilege of selling. It was truly beautiful.”
Milne, who is also marketing a pair of properties with Lisa Hopewell on the beach at Pikau Bay on nearby Cowes Bay Road with their own jetty and helicopter pad, said that the lesser-known eastern end of the island is coming into its own over the more populous villages around the island’s north west.
The house on 5 hectares on Orapiu Road, overlooking Omaru Bay on Waiheke's south east, has an RV of $8.1m but was expected to sell for double the amount. Photo / Supplied
“There is much greater appreciation of the beauty of the bays, the serenity and privacy. The car ferry is there, there are amenities at Onetangi only 15 minutes and so many vineyards.
“People are only now coming to appreciate the true value of this waterfront,” she said, adding that interest in both the land to build, as well as the finished estate at Omaru Bay came mostly from Aucklanders.
“We’ve had enquiry from all over, but that’s no more than usual. People are prepared to fly in to look at coastal property, they can’t buy it [without Overseas Investment Office approval] but are prepared to explore. They’re coming from Switzerland, Singapore [which doesn’t need approval], Japan – they know they’ve got a process to work through.”
Milne said January had been busy, with good enquiry from downsizers looking at anything from small two-bed apartments to a luxury Shelly Beach Road, St Marys Bay apartment asking $6.95 million and the penthouse floors of The Pacifica, in downtown Auckland asking up to $10.95m.
“I call it right-sizing. The market is what it is, but people want their life to continue, what do they have to do to get the lifestyle they want. What matters is their lifestyle now, they don’t want to wait three years.”
The vendor, a Kiwi then based in London, bought the property in early 2008 for $4.3m, after viewing it on the way to the airport to fly back to the UK.
The 2008 rebuild of the house was designed by award-winning architects Sumich Chaplin and built by Argon Construction. Photo / Supplied
“We made an offer as we left New Zealand, and by the time we landed in London it was ours,” the owner earlier told OneRoof.
The 956sqm house, completely rebuilt since it was purchased, has an Auckland Council valuation of $8.1m, but was expected to sell for more than double that price.
2021’s top price was set in December when the 34-hectare estate on Kauaroa Bay, Waiheke Island, which was earmarked for a luxury lodge by the US billionaire Julian Robertson, owner of Kauri Cliffs, The Farm at Cape Kidnappers and Queenstown’s Matakauri, sold privately to a family for $23.5m.
The top price so far for 2022 was $11.75m for an off-market deal for a 1.97ha estate on Dolphin Lane, Waiheke Island.
The property has an infinity pool, helipad and it's own jetty and boat ramp. Photo / Supplied
The Omaru Bay property’s owners’ initial plans to update the kitchen and bathrooms turned into a total rebuild when they decided to add an infinity pool. The 12-month project, designed by award-winning architects Sumich Chaplin Architects, and built by Argon Construction, gave the home seven bedrooms and eight bathrooms – as well as the stand-out floating infinity pool.
There’s a spa, sauna and, if helicoptering isn’t an option, parking for up to 12 guests as well as the four-car garage. There are multiple living and dining spaces, and a chef’s kitchen with scullery.
The owner said: “The moment we saw the home in the flesh for the first time was incredible. I remember feeling incredibly nervous as our chopper flew over the Hauraki Gulf towards Waiheke. As we circled over the property and saw the completed project from the air for the first time, it was just surreal. After we stepped inside the home, I remember sitting in absolute silence and shock, just gazing around me, and taking it all in.
“I knew it would be beautiful, but I’d had no idea it was going to be as beautiful as it is.”
- Additional reporting Erin Reilly
