FANTASY ISLAND

Once a casual weekend getaway for Auckland city’s inhabitants, Waiheke Island has become an international destination in its own right.

In the three years from November 2015 to November 2018, the median value of properties on the island rose by an impressive 38.2 percent.

Waiheke Island is not just Aucklanders’s favourite island destination, it’s popular with visitors from all over the world. Celebrities and the super-rich are known to fly in to enjoy the highly rated cuisine and wines offered by the island’s many restaurants and vineyards

– and to soak up the unique culture and unspoiled beauty that are huge sources of pride for locals.

Who lives here and what do they do?

More than 9000 people are based permanently on Waiheke, but thousands more have holiday homes there. Apart from the food and wine, culture is one of the island’s biggest drawcards: music, art, sculpture and garden festivals throughout the year attract big numbers of visitors. The ferry lands more than one million passengers per year on the island.

The first vineyards were planted on the island about 60 years ago, with production on a reasonably large scale really kicking off in the 1970s and 1980s. Since then, more and more wineries have opened, with their various world-class varieties meeting international acclaim. A good number of local people are involved in the day-to-day running of tourism - hopso and retail operations - while over a thousand commute daily by ferry to the city for work.

Buying and selling

While Waiheke Island’s property scene has boomed over the past few years, conditions are starting to settle. As stock levels increase, the current climate has the feel of a more balanced buyers’ market. New Council taxes around short-term holiday rental properties have led to more properties being available for sale, while agents are still watching to see if the Government’s ban on foreign buyers will impact the upper end of the market.

In the three years from November 2015 to November 2018, the median value of properties on the island rose by an impressive 38.2 percent (from $1,184,500 to $1,692,000), but that belies an extreme range of sale prices ranging from $700,000 to $6,500,000 over the past 12 months. Even in the most recent quarter, since August 2018, the median value was still on the up, increasing 3.8 percent.

Bayleys Waiheke principal

Mary Curnow has lived on the island on and off since 1989, selling real estate for much of that time. She’s seen the market rise and plateau many times, but she’s never seen it really fall and doesn’t expect to either in this cycle.

She estimates only 14 percent of sales have been to international buyers, so has not noticed a subdued mood after the overseas buyer ban, adding that sensitive land sales on the island have always been carefully scrutinised. The Overseas Investment Office has just approved the sale of 34 hectares at Kauaroa Bay, next to Whakanewha Regional Park, to luxury lodge operator Julian Robertson. As with the company’s other estates, including Kauri Cliffs and Cape Kidnappers, the $30 million development will include public walking access and extensive ecological restoration.

“The top of the market, there’s still stuff happening,” she says. “I guess I’d call this a steady period right now. It’s not so frenzied as it was, but good sales are continuing ‘steady as she goes’.”

“We follow mainland Auckland trends with about a six month lag, but we’re not just a suburb, we’re also second homes and they’ve got a value of their own.”

She says that an entry level property of just under $750,000 gets a comfortable newish home, suitable for a family with kids.

“It is perfectly liveable, though it won’t be on the beaches. You’d have to be pretty sharp to pick up total do-up for $650,000 but would only get you in the door, it would be a lot of work.”

Curnow sees this as a great market for families, with the cost of a monthly ferry pass (and the legendary community of commuters) now comparing favourably to hours-long drives and the costs of car and parking for comparable mainland outer suburbs.

She says that while there is a seven-unit development happening on Waiheke, it can never add supply in the same way as the Auckland market where huge tracts are still being opened up on the edges of the city.

“There are still adjustments between holiday rentals and long-term rentals, but this is a good first-home buyer market,” says Curnow. “It’s a wonderful place for families, there’s a support community, it’s really supportive and upbeat and forward thinking.

“I’m amazed by how much energy the people on the island have – so much has happened there in the last three years.”