A real estate agent sold three baches on Waiheke Island for more than $15 million in just two weeks.
Ray White agent Matthew Smith told OneRoof the houses were all within walking distance of each other, in the desirable beach suburb of Oneroa.
The sale prices ranged from $4.3m to $6.5m, and exceeded their CVs by hundreds of thousands of dollars, with one selling for more than $1m above its rating valuation.
Smith said he started an unusual chain of events that stretched to Sweden and back when he listed a three-bedroom bach on Tiri Road in late May.
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The property had started life in the 1950s as the postmaster’s home but was given a major renovation by the vendor’s son-in-law, “one of the best builders on the island”, said Smith.
“The first weekend of the campaign, the ultimate buyer came through, but so did the owners of a house on Ocean View Road. They had wanted to buy it, so they set up a meeting with me to see if I could sell their property before the auction of Tiri Road.
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“They knew it was a long shot, but the owners of Tiri Road were kind and extended their auction campaign by two weeks.”
The four-bedroom house on Ocean View Road hit the market asking buyers to submit tenders a couple of days before the Tiri Road auction. The owners got an offer of $6.5m – well above the property’s CV of $5.7m – which freed them up to bid. However, they lost out to another determined buyer who snapped up Tiri Road with a bid of $4.3m – $1m above CV.
That left them “homeless”, said Smith.
A four-bedroom house, centre, on Ocean View Road, Oneroa, Waiheke, sold for $6.5m - $800,000 above CV. Photo / Supplied
The couple wanted to downsize and the agent had a property in mind – a two-storey home on Queens Drive, which had failed to sell in 2023.
“I then signed a buyer’s agent agreement with them, and we approached the owners of Queens Drive. We knew they still wanted to sell. They were living in Sweden and were delighted that we approached them.” The house sold to Smith’s buyers for $4.3m – well above the CV of $3.55m.
Unsurprisingly, an undisclosed number of bottles of champagne were opened in the Ray White Waiheke office after the sales were finalised.
A two-storey house with a separate cottage on Queens Drive, Oneroa, sold for $4.3m - well above its CV of $3.55m. Photo / Supplied
Smith said the new owners of the Tiri Road and Ocean View Road properties were first-time Waiheke buyers, explaining that Tiri Road’s owners planned to live part-time on the island. The owners of Ocean View Road, he said, planned to use their property as a holiday home and a place in which to spend time with their grandchildren.
Smith said the vendors had come out of the deals smiling.
“In a depressed market like this, you need these bonuses,” Smith said, adding that the upper end of Waiheke’s market was holding up relatively well. “The buyers are mostly from Auckland. They’re looking for the lifestyle and the beaches. Walking access to the village is also highly sought after – more so than before.”
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