- Martyn Reesby purchased a Herne Bay waterfront home for $20m, over $8m above its RV.
- The off-market deal was facilitated by Ollie and Graham Wall, with Reesby confirming the purchase.
- High-end property sales are increasingly off-market, with many buyers and sellers preferring discretion.
Rich-lister financier Martyn Reesby has quietly snapped up a waterfront home in Auckland’s Herne Bay for $20 million – more than $8m above its RV.
Start your property search
Reesby, the head of Spinnaker Capital, New Zealand’s leading private lender for property development, made the trophy purchase in May this year, with the sale appearing in public records this month.
Reesby confirmed to OneRoof that he bought the four-bedroom home on Marine Parade but declined to comment further. Ollie and Graham Wall, of Wall Real Estate, facilitated the off-market deal and also declined to comment.
The 400sqm house, known as Sea Wall, is one of Herne Bay’s standout homes. The vendors, who are also in finance, bought the 1011sqm plot in 2011 for $3.85m. They bowled the brick house that had been there since the 1950s and commissioned award-winning architect Andrew Patterson to create a distinctive home that celebrated “casual living”.
Sea Wall House was designed by award-winning architect Andrew Patterson. Photo / George McNabb, Pattersons Associates
The luxury home replaced a 1950s brick house that was in "such poor condition", Patterson says. Photo / George McNabb, Pattersons Associates
The house overlooks the harbour and was designed for family life and casual living. Photo / George McNabb, Pattersons Associates
Surrounded by pohutukawa trees, the layered home boasts a swimming pool, a studio tucked near the water, an upper floor of bedrooms, and walls of glass that look out on the harbour and North Shore.
Patterson mixed concrete, basalt stone, and painted timber slats inside and out, and anchored the home with a central stairwell and glass inserts that connect the three levels and terraces inside and out.
Reesby is no stranger to big property deals. Two years ago, he sold his five-bedroom mansion on Victoria Avenue, in Remuera, for $23.5m, and in 2019, he picked up a colonial-style spread at Te Rere Cove, on Waiheke Island, for a reported $18.5m. More recently, he sold a more modest 1920s bungalow on Vine Street in St Marys Bay.
Reesby’s $20m purchase is one of several off-market deals completed this year. Of the 19 houses sold for more than $10m in 2025, nine were never advertised on the open market.
Bayleys agent Gary Wallace, who brokered Reesby’s Victoria Avenue sale, told OneRoof that many of his high-end clients preferred to find buyers discreetly.
“If you have got $20m to spend, it is more about what opportunities are out there. I have got three or four people I could potentially shoulder-tap if I had the right property. They are just sitting back, waiting,” he said.
Discover more:
- Trophy estate obliterates Bay of Plenty's house price record
- Has Kiwi rich-lister Ben Cook sold his Auckland mansion for $35m?
- Real estate boss Don Ha lists his historic villa for $8m-plus
Wallace said that often moving in the right circles helped. “You’ve got the ear to the ground; you know what is going on. They are local guys, they are tuned in, they know the pockets they want to be in if they come up.”
Ray White agent Ross Hawkins, who has acted as a buyer’s agent for several big deals this year, agreed that many high-end buyers, as well as sellers, liked to stay off-market.
“Being in the business, you get wind of buyers who are thinking of selling or would sell if they got the right money. If you are working as a buyer’s agent, the other agent does not have to pay you any [commission], the buyer pays.”
Hawkins said that while details of the Government’s planned changes to New Zealand’s foreign buyer rules had yet to be announced, the announcement itself had had an impact on the market.
“Buyers want to act before it comes in, and if the buyer wants to act, the sellers are open to it,” he said, adding that he had noticed in recent months more off-market deals in the works.
A waterfront stunner at neighbouring 15 Cremorne Street is still up for grabs and aiming to break records. Photo / Supplied
Another Herne Bay architectural statement looking for a buyer is 36 Herne Bay Road. Photo / Supplied
He noted that buyers from Sydney, where prime waterfront commands the city’s top prices, often see more value in waterfront Auckland than locals do.
However, not all top properties are sold behind closed doors.
Wall Real Estate is currently marketing two prime estates in Herne Bay that are seeking top dollar. At 15 Cremorne Street, rich-lister property developers Paula and Simon Herbert are selling their refurbished waterfront home for more than $40m.
And at 36 Herne Bay Road, a resort-style home renovated by architects Sumich Chaplin is up for grabs for $16m-plus.
Ollie Wall told OneRoof that some 60% of the company’s $10m-plus sales were off-market, noting that homes at the very top end were “flying” out the door.
“The vast majority are locals. We think the announcement of changes to the foreign buyers’ buying here [through investment visas] has given locals a bit of encouragement to start selling or buying,” he said.
- Click here to find more properties for sale in Herne Bay
