- Ross Hawkins of New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty reports growing competition from foreign buyers for high-end Auckland homes.
- Hawkins closed three St Heliers deals, including one over $8m, with increased overseas interest.
- Most of the foreign buyers are from the US, with interest also from China, Hong Kong, Germany, and Austria.
Kiwis are buying up expensive homes, but competition from foreign buyers is growing, says New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Ross Hawkins.
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Last month, Hawkins closed three high-end deals in the space of a week in the wealthy Auckland suburb of St Heliers, including one for over $8 million.
None of the purchases were under the Government’s golden visa scheme, which allows foreign investors the right to buy a New Zealand home worth $5m or more, but Hawkins said Auckland properties have attracted a lot of overseas interest in recent months.
Hawkins told OneRoof that overseas demand had steadily grown since the Active Investor Plus legislation came into effect on March 6. According to the latest figures, 20 New Zealand properties have been purchased under the scheme, including 14 in Auckland.
The majority of offshore buyers are from the US, and just this week, Hawkins said he was showing five Auckland properties to interested American buyers.
“That’s the thing about the process that’s happening at the moment, the fact that the overseas buyers are coming in more and more is actually making the locals move on things so they don’t miss out.
“Every month it’s getting better as far as numbers and enquiries, so there’s a window for locals to get in on the high-end stuff now before they have more of them to compete with, because they've got to get their ducks in a row, these overseas buyers.”
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While some needed to qualify and make their investments to become eligible, others were already qualified and ready to buy, he said.
“Everyone’s got a different way of going about it depending on their situations.
“The ones that we are dealing with today, we’re showing them five options today, and they are still working with their investment advisors to make their investments here.
“They know they want to buy something here, they’re just working out what while they go through the process.”
As well as Americans, people from China and Hong Kong were looking, as were a “surprising” number from Germany and Austria.
A trophy home on St Heliers Bay Road was snapped up by a local buyer for over $8m. Photo / Supplied
“The Germans are a little bit worried about Russia and what’s happening over there, but all these people are looking at New Zealand for different reasons.
“The Americans, there is a large proportion of anti-Trump there, but there are also people wanting to come for lifestyle and put their kids into university here and that sort of thing.”
There were plenty of $5m-plus properties available, and plenty of overseas buyers were in the market for $10m properties, he said.
AIP visa holders were reasonably specific about what they wanted, and in Auckland, that was usually school zones and being close to the water, Hawkins said.
While Aucklanders often took their harbour for granted, people from overseas were impressed with views of Rangitoto and the Hauraki Gulf in the City of Sails.
Hawkins also sold a farmstead home on Clarendon Road, in St Heliers, for $3.25m. Photo / Supplied
He sold the house next door to UK buyers with New Zealand residency for $2.895m. Photo / Supplied
One of the three St Heliers properties Hawkins sold last month met the criteria for AIP buyers. The five-bedroom, four-bathroom home on St Heliers Bay Road has a pool complex and landscaped gardens, and was marketed as a substantial resort-style residence offering sweeping harbour views and unparalleled privacy on over half an acre of land.
Local buyers had acted fast to secure the property, paying $8.375m - more than $1.5m above the RV.
“Our Remuera office, for the first quarter of this year, had an average sale price above $5m,” Hawkins said.
The other two St Heliers properties that sold last month were next door to each other on Clarendon Road. They both sold for below the $5m AIP threshold.
One fetched $3.25m and was snapped up by the perfect buyer, Hawkins said.
The original farmhouse dates back to the early settlers and was sold to an architect who specialised in historic homes. “Our advertising on that was bring your architect because people were talking ‘oh, it's a development site, knock it down’, but it’s an iconic house.
Eligible for AIP buyers is a $6m-plus apartment on St Stephens Avenue, in Auckland’s Parnell. Photo / Supplied
A five-bedroom coastal property at 39A Landowners Lane, in Tutukaka, Whangārei, is looking for a buyer with around $7m to spend. Photo / Supplied
“My view was we really want someone that’s got an architectural eye to buy it, to restore it, to add to it, enhance it, because it’s an amazing part of our history. I mean, all the bricks came as ballast on sailing ships into St Heliers Bay, were rowed ashore and carried up to the site to build the house with.”
The new owner was excited and planned to enhance the property in keeping with its character, Hawkins said. “It will be magnificent when it’s done. They only bought a couple of weeks ago, and they’ve already moved in.”
The other property was sold for the $2.895m asking price after just one viewing.
The new owners, who were New Zealand residents from the United Kingdom, were aware that several people had missed out on the property next door and so moved quickly, Hawkins said.
Hawkins has other AIP-eligible properties, including an apartment in St Stephens Avenue, in Parnell, which is on for $6.25m.
The well-built concrete home is one of only four and has unobstructed views of Auckland Harbour.
Another AIP-eligible property is in Tutukaka, in Northland.
This waterfront property, on for circa $7m, has a paper road between the house and the water, meaning it can be purchased by an offshore buyer, Hawkins said.
“It’s a paper road that will never be formed but what that does is it separates it from the sensitive land and the waterfront.”
The property has only been listed a few days and already Hawkins has handled over two dozen inquiries, many of them from Australians seeking property in New Zealand following changes to tax rules in Australia.
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