The Government confirmed this week that Google co-founder Larry Page, is a resident of New Zealand after it emerged that he visited New Zealand earlier this year.
Page, who is worth an estimated NZ$164 billion and is living with his family in Fiji, flew one of his two children to Starship Hospital in Auckland for treatment after the child became sick on the island.
News of Page's residency status has led to speculation in real estate circles as to whether or not he's looking to buy property in New Zealand.
Fellow US tech billionaire and Kiwi citizen Peter Thiel has just put his Queenstown house on the market and OneRoof can reveal that a high-net-worth individual is interested in buying it.
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Real estate agent Graham Wall, who holds the record for New Zealand’s biggest residential sale and is selling Thiel's house, told OneRoof that while he does not have Page on speed dial, several billionaires had been on the hunt for homes in the Queenstown area.
He said ultra-wealthy buyers wanted spectacular scenery and security, and New Zealand offered both. While the houses they looked at still needed to be big and luxurious, location and access to the great outdoors were the most important qualities to them.
“They want to go mountain bike-riding. They want to be living in the safest place," Wall said.
"They just love that they’re not bothered here. Nobody’s shoving a camera in their face. They come here for the security and the breath-taking scenery, but they stay here because of the people. They tell me we’re the loveliest people on earth.”
Wall told OneRoof that he had a "tech giant" interested in Thiel's five-bedroom luxury house on Queenstown Hill.
US tech billionaire Peter Thiel, above, is selling his luxury house in Queenstown, below. Photos / Getty Images and Wall Real Estate
"We came down here to do some skiing, but we've ended up doing a deal with one tech giant selling to another."
Thiel's company, Second Star Ltd, paid $4.8m for the house 10 years ago and Wall expects it now fetch around $7m.
He also has interest in a luxury home in Queenstown’s exclusive Wyuna estate, which he says has “quite possibly the best view in the world” and could sell for more than $20m.
However, a buyer would have to pull out all the stops to beat all-time record, the $38.5 million paid in 2013 for a mansion in Auckland's Orakei.
Could Page be interested in paying $42m for the super penthouse in NZ's tallest residential tower? Photo / Supplied
Page, who reached billionaire status when he was 30, has quite extensive real estate portfolio. In 2005, he bought a six-bedroom, six-bathroom Spanish Colonial mansion in Palo Alto, California, for US$7.2 million and then set about snapping up the houses around him to increase the size of his estate. He famously built eco-friendly house on his property which boasts green elements like a roof topped with solar panels and a rooftop garden. He also has an apartment in New York and an island in the Caribbean.
There are no records of Page owning real estate in New Zealand and to even make a purchase he would need to either be resident in New Zealand for at least 183 days or get OIA approval.
New Zealand's most expensive residential property for sale right now is the super penthouse in the Pacifica tower in central Auckland. The 1200sqm luxury apartment on the 53rd and 54th floors of the tower has an asking price of $42m.
If apartment living isn't to Page's liking, he could head to the Bay of Islands, where Luxury Real Estate agent Charlie Brendon-Cook said there were homes for sale in the $15m bracket. “We've got listings around the $15m range, but we don’t openly market those. We just tap the right buyer," he said.
“But having residency isn’t enough to buy. Even a billionaire has got to live in the country for at least 183 days a year or they need to get OIA approval like everyone else.”
It's possible that Page will purchase a home in Fiji, where he has reportedly spent much of the Covid pandemic.
Bayleys real estate agent in Fiji Philip Toogood told OneRoof that the volume of buyer interest in the islands from overseas was huge.
He recently brokered the sale of a luxury resort on Denaru Island for NZ$12.32m, although he was unable to say who bought the property.
The Denaru Island resort which has been snapped up for NZ$12.32m. Photo / Supplied
The 1326sqm home has six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a media room, swimming pool, private boat ramp for a boat or sea plane and a marina berth.
Toogood said he was also negotiating a NZ$7m deal for another property on Denaru owned by an American. The buyers are Kiwi and Australian based in the US. "They have made an offer sight unseen. They’re just waiting consent from the minister."
He said there were no restrictions on overseas buyers for out-of-town properties. "That’s a competitive advantage for us when we open up again," he said.
“Well over 20 to 30% of our enquiries are from Americans. We’re not a bolt hole, people are coming here for the lifestyle and to spend time with their families.”
