- Two expats vied for a Queenstown lakefront home, which sold for $10.775m.
- The 430sqm residence had high-quality finishes and was on the market for a year.
- Overseas interest in Queenstown has surged, with US buyers dominating recent purchases.
Two expats went head-to-head over a luxury lakefront home in Queenstown last month, with the victor securing the new-build property for $10.775 million.
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New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Matt Finnigan told OneRoof that the two rival buyers saw the four-bedroom pad on Drift Bay Road, in Wye Creek, on the same day and immediately made offers.
The 430sqm home, designed by award-winning architects Kerr Ritchie, sat on 3740sqm of lakefront land and had been on the market for a year, attracting plenty of international attention. However, the expats who saw it in March were both new to the market.
“We had numerous offers on the property over the last 12 months, but we had a slight value drop, and then, off we go, we had two [offers] in the same weekend,” Finnegan said.
The lakefront house on Drift Bay Road has northern views of the mountains. Photo / Supplied
The property was built by the vendor and designed by award-winning architects Kerr Ritchie. Photo / Supplied
“We didn’t get into a major shootout with the two buyers; no one really enjoys them. It was genuinely two people who saw value at virtually the same spot.”
Finnigan said the house was a spec build – a rarity in the Queenstown market – and featured high-quality finishes, including triple-glazing, Italian flooring, precast concrete, a spa, a media room, and native-plant landscaping.
“[The vendor] did a remarkable job. He knows the location well. It is one of the few north-facing lake views in town. You look straight across to Coronet Peak, and you have no road in front of you.”
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New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty managing director Mark Harris told OneRoof that there had been a surge in overseas interest in Queenstown and prestige markets since the changes to the foreign investor visa, with buyers from the US dominating.
“Americans have taken over from Australians this last quarter,” he said, adding that there had also been strong interest from buyers from Singapore, Germany, and the UAE “these last few weeks”.
“We are also starting to see the Asian markets – China, Hong Kong, Singapore – come back. Some of them have budgets in the $40m, $50m category, but a lot are in the $5m to $10m range,” he said.
“We have had European families looking at properties for the purpose of relocating full-time with their families. We are seeing examples of families wanting future generation protection,” Harris said.
A five-bedroom home at 160 Lower Shotover Road, in Queenstown, is being marketed as suitable for foreign buyers. Photo / Supplied
In the last two weeks, the company inked off-the-plan sales in the multibillion-dollar luxury Te Taumata Lakeview development in Queenstown for $7.7m and $4.85m, both to overseas buyers.
Finnigan said a lot of foreign buyers were still grappling with the rule changes.
“There’s still a whole bunch of people at the bottom end of the scale who have just pulled together their $5m minimum to spend,” he said. “You get world events and people start looking for safety, but only a small fraction will end up transacting.”
The agent has just listed a five-bedroom property at 160 Lower Shotover Road, which is marked as suitable for overseas purchasers. The house, which sits on an 8000sqm block, has an RV of just under $10m and comes with a pool, a tennis court, and a media room, and is just a few minutes’ drive from Ayrburn.
- Click here to find more properties for sale in Queenstown Lakes
