Real estate agents in Omaha are bracing for a new wave of demand for property in Auckland’s playground beach for the rich and famous when the new motorway to Warkworth opens late in April.
A four-bedroom fully renovated house on Lagoon Way sold under the hammer at the end of March for $6.65 million, $1.5m above its CV.
Agents are reporting new end-of-summer vigor, although prices do not quite match the summer’s record of $8.7m for a property in Inanga Lane, in October.
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Keitha McLaren, who marketed the Lagoon Way property with Peter McAteer, said that the sale was “a flawless auction process”, with very active bidding from the eventual buyer and an under-bidder.
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“People told us don’t go to auction, but we didn’t want people to get it cheap. It’s very difficult to read this market, but the vendor was delighted with that price,” she said, adding that another handful of buyers were waiting in the wings to make conditional offers if it passed in.
“There are people who don’t want to be in the public process [of an auction] in this market, they don’t want people to know what they paid. They certainly knew all along that the price needed to start with a six [million].”
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McLaren said a new wave of buyers with school-age kids are Omaha’s next generation as some longer-term owners move on.
“Even with sports and things, families can be in their car and here by 1.30pm, they’ve still got a beautiful weekend. And there’s a bus to Kristin in Albany, so kids can take the bus on Friday night and Monday morning and they get a longer weekend up there.”
Renovations to the house on Lagoon Way, Omaha, included creating a new outdoor living room in the courtyard. Photo / Supplied
McLaren said the owners, who records show paid $4.075m five years ago, had completely renovated the property, updating the courtyard with a fireplace, putting in a more modern kitchen and bathroom. She said buyers who missed out were after “absolutely flawless” properties, so she was encouraging would-be vendors to spend the winter prepping their places for the September spring market.
Mark Macky, director of Bayleys in the North whose offices stretch from Orewa to the Bay of Islands, said that buyers were eyeing lifestyle properties in the Rodney area for more than just a holiday house.
“People are saying ‘do we have to be in the middle of the city?’ when they could be up here in 45 minutes, and only do a couple of days in the city. Some move up, they have an idea of an apartment in town and then realise they don’t even need it.
A house at Ida Way recently sold for just under $4m. Photo / Supplied
“Some have a lifestyle place, some live permanently in Omaha. There’s a real crossover with Wanaka and Queenstown with lifestyle property there.”
Macky said that in the 15 years he’s been selling property around Omaha, stock levels are finally getting back to normal with just under 20 homes for sale.
“There’s generally a good amount of stock. Days on market are back to normal after the Covid frenzy, which always adjusts as there is more choice and buyers and sellers can pause and reflect.
“There are good buyers across Omaha and Matakana, and with the motorway people are saying they’d rather come up here than deal with the ferry mess to get to Waiheke.”
Bayleys agent Victoria Turner called listing numbers “healthy” after the shortage in the post-Covid years. She said figures showed the six properties sold already in the beach town this year had a median price of $3.287m – $200,000 up on the same time last year.
“We’re still selling comfortably over CV. There are definitely no fire sales, no desperation at all. The market is getting stronger, people are doing the rounds, going to open homes.”
This summer, Turner pointed to sales of a five-bedroom home on 673sqm on Kewai Street, one back from the beach, that sold for $4.5m in January, $200,000 above its CV, and a three-bedroom home on Te Mana Street, that had its auction brought forward at the end of October and sold for $2.305m, well above its $1.8m CV. A waterfront four-bedroom home she is marketing on 177 Omaha Drive, which has a CV of $3.9m, has had good numbers through, she said.
A five bedroom house one back from the beach on Kewai Street sold for $4.5m. Photo / Supplied
She said Omaha’s improved accessibility when the new motorway to Puhoi opens is a real talking point, and new buyers were “popping up all the time”, as well as existing owners looking to do the “Omaha shuffle” to get closer to the water. Growth to the north, in the exclusive golfing estates of Tara Iti and Te Arai, is helping.
“They like that we’re halfway between Auckland and Tara Iti. The highway is just going to strengthen Omaha,” she said.
Precision Real Estate agent Di Balich said that buyers were very specific about what they were looking for and, unlike the 2021 rush, were prepared to put off buying until the right place came along.
“People are not prepared to make concessions, they want 99% of their requirements. There are astute buyers out there, but they can take their time – they're not going to be selling again for another five or 10 years, lots of properties haven’t been on the market for 20 or 25 years.
“This is the normal number of listings for Omaha, we sure don’t have the proliferation we had in the GFC.”
Ray White Matakana owner Heather Walton told OneRoof her sales this month included a just-under $4m deal for a five-year-old four-bedroom house on Ida Way, and $5.6m for a renovated property on Tio Lane in December. She said that there were still families looking for properties.
“It’s the time to purchase. People are selling for personal reasons – kids finished school, or they’re travelling. I’m not seeing anything that indicates strife. Nobody’s hitting any money problems.”
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