Cliff-top Waiheke home sells for $7.1m at auction
Prices on the island are catching up to Auckland’s top end, writes CATHERINE SMITH.
Acliff-top luxury home on Auckland's Waiheke Island has sold under the hammer for $7.1 million – exceeding vendor expectations by almost $1m.
Four bidders were at the auction looking to secure the three-bedroom house at 20 Matapana Road in Palm Beach, with a local buyer making the winning bid.
“Pre-auction interest suggested that the property would fetch just shy of $6m. Bidding opened at $4.5 million. It was just flying up in $200,000 lots,” said Francine Sweet, New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent who marketed the property.
The property has a 2017 rating valuation of $2.575 million, but does not take into account recent upgrades made by the vendors, including the installation of an outdoor swimming pool.
“The CV is absolutely meaningless here. This was a very rare western ridge cliff top property, on a double site with reserve frontage that had been utterly newly remodelled,” Sweet said.
Sweet said she had about 10 local buyers, plus more who are based overseas-based, who were looking to spend at least $5m to $6m for a house on Waiheke. “Those people are there.”
Another cliff-top property Sweet was marketing, 27-29 Garratt Road, in Onetangi, sold under the hammer last weekend for $5.35m, with five buyers competing. And at the height of summer, six bidders, including an expat bidding by phone, duked it out for a stylish threebedroom home at 4 Tiri View Road, in Palm Beach, which sold for $4.6m – almost double its CV.
Sweet said that most of her buyers were either trading up from an existing home on the island or selling up in the city and looking to move permanently to the island.
“You’re definitely seeing more of this post-Covid. There’s a real tipping point on the prices between the island, Herne Bay and Remuera. Prices here are starting to catch up with that top end – a lot of money is moving here,” she said.
However, Sweet did note that Waiheke’s market in autumn was not as intense as it is in summer.
“I’m not sure how big that pool is heading into winter. Sellers should consider the autumn market is not the same as February.”
According to OneRoof records, the top settled sale price for Waiheke last year was $9 million for a three-bedroom home at 4 Newton Road in Oneroa.
The property, marketed by Kellands agent Martin Dobson, was a striking architectural design on the cliff top with riperian rights.
Dobson is marketing another striking cliff-top home at 324A Sea View Road in Onetang. The striking build, with its own private white sand beach and stunning views, is for sale by tender on May 12.