ANALYSIS: Waiheke Island is the new capital of real estate wealth in Auckland, but favoured elite streets in the city are slipping, new OneRoof research shows.

Analysis of the new council valuations issued this week shows Waiheke properties enjoyed some of the city's biggest valuation bumps.

The research found three elite streets on the island where homes are at least 10 times more expensive than the average Auckland house.

Top of the rich list are Nick Johnstone Drive, Alan Murray Lane, and Cable Bay Lane, where the median CV is just over $10m.

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Mansions line Arney Road, in Remuera. The street is home to some of the country's most expensive properties, but the street isn't Auckland's wealthiest.  Photo / Chris Tarpey

Auckland's wealthiest street, Nick Johnstone Drive, on Waiheke Island. Houses there have a median CV of almost $11m. Photo / Fiona Goodall

Another three Waiheke Island addresses - Park Point Drive, The Strand and Delamore Drive - are clipping their heels with median CVs of $9.5m, $8.8m, and $8.55m respectively.

All seven streets have defied the slump that has impacted other prestigious parts of the city. The median CV in each has risen around $2m since the last CVs were taken, in June 2021, when the market was booming.

High-value streets in Remuera and Herne Bay, while still home to extreme real estate wealth, have suffered steep declines in their median CV.

The highest-ranking Remuera Street is Westbury Crescent, where 11 homes have a median CV of $8.3m, while the most expensive street in Herne Bay is Cremorne Street, whose 13 homes have a median CV of $8m. Both have dropped around $500,000 since the last valuation.

As part of the research, OneRoof and its data partner Valocity have identified for each suburb the street with the highest median CV. The results highlight where there is the greatest concentration of higher-value homes, and suggest where buyers with aspirations for luxury living should focus their efforts - and where they have a good chance of bagging a bargain.

The research found 14 "elite" streets where the median CV is less than $1m. The cheapest "elite" addresses were Birds Beach Road, in Tapora ($770,000); Awapeka Road, in Te Ana ($830,000); Wharehine Road, in Tauhoa ($840,000); Kaipara Coast Highway, in Mangakura ($850,000); and Huia Road, in Huia ($860,000).

Mansions line Arney Road, in Remuera. The street is home to some of the country's most expensive properties, but the street isn't Auckland's wealthiest.  Photo / Chris Tarpey

Baches on The Strand, in Onetangi, have a median CV of $8.8m. Photo / Fiona Goodall

Mansions line Arney Road, in Remuera. The street is home to some of the country's most expensive properties, but the street isn't Auckland's wealthiest.  Photo / Chris Tarpey

Expensive properties can be found on other Waiheke streets. Sotheby's is selling this prestige estate at 729 Orapiu Road. Photo / Supplied

OneRoof reporter Nikki Preston talked to several high-end agents about what impact the new CVs would have on buyer demand and prices. Many were sceptical about the influence the new CVs would have on the market, but they did acknowledge they weighed heavily on the minds of some homeowners.

New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Chris Jones, whose patch is Waiheke Island, said all of the streets highlighted OneRoof's analysis were extremely desirable.

“There’s no doubt that they are the most expensive and desirable streets on the island,” he said.

However, Jones said it wasn’t just properties on those streets that went for impressive prices. He’s selling a seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom home at 729 Orapiu Road, which last sold for $17.5m in 2022.

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“People tend to be property specific at the high end of the market, and yes, being in one of those locations is sort of an outcome of some of the prices they are achieving.”

All but one of the Waiheke streets on the top 10 list were larger estates in gated communities or on larger lifestyle blocks near each other.

The only outlier was The Strand, in Onetangi, which was the only street on the list that could be classed as beachfront.

Jones said properties on these streets were a mix of both permanent and holiday homes.

Mansions line Arney Road, in Remuera. The street is home to some of the country's most expensive properties, but the street isn't Auckland's wealthiest.  Photo / Chris Tarpey

Omaha homes have been selling well above CV over the last two years. Photo / Fiona Goodall

Bayleys agent Victoria Turner said the properties in Omaha, another beach spot prized by wealthy buyers, had sold on average for 16% above CV in the last two and a half years.

So far this year, there have been 12 sales in Omaha, and on average, they have sold for 16.8% over CV (although at the peak of the market, properties were selling on average 77% over CV).

“We see waterfront properties selling $1m over CV and we also see baches selling well above CV because the CV don’t reflect the improvements made to those properties over the years.”

In contrast, very few properties had sold for under CV in the last few years.

Mansions line Arney Road, in Remuera. The street is home to some of the country's most expensive properties, but the street isn't Auckland's wealthiest.  Photo / Chris Tarpey

Harcourts Cooper & Co auctioneer Andrew North says CVs still matter to buyers and sellers. Photo / Ted Baghurst

“Omaha is a very unique catchment and it’s never as impacted by economic conditions as other markets…. and generally starts to bounce back a bit quicker than other markets as well.”

Harcourts Cooper & Co senior auctioneer Andrew North said it was the first time he could recall CVs dropping in Auckland, so it could take some people a little while to get their heads around.

“A lot of people still do correlate the value of their property with their CV and certainly, I tell you what, there’ s a real sense from the buyers that if they buy it under CV they feel like they’ve done well. They feel like they’ve had a win.

“Whether in reality they have or not – whatever reason it’s just human nature – people just feel good when they’ve bought under CV.”

He estimated about half the properties they were currently selling were going for below CV.

However, with CVs now dropping by 9% on average in Auckland, that chance may have gone, he said. “This is going to be interesting now because we now have to educate buyers that the expectation of buying below CV may not exist because the council has reduced it by 9%.

“The thing is 9% is quite a significant amount of money. On a $2m home, it's almost $180,000, and on a $1m home, it's a $90,000 reduction."

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