- Donald Trump’s conflict with Iran affected Queenstown-Lakes’ housing market, but Australian interest has revived it.
- Bayleys agents sold a $16.5m lodge, despite initial market uncertainty from the Middle East conflict.
- Australian tax changes have increased interest in Queenstown properties, with significant deals and younger buyers.
Donald Trump’s war against Iran dented Queenstown-Lakes’ housing market, but peace talks and a surge in interest from Australia have put it back on track.
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At the start of the year, Bayleys agents Sarena Glass and Sarah McBride sold a trophy lodge on Mooney Road, in Speargrass Flat, for $16.5 million.
The five-bedroom retreat, which sits on a 4.6ha section and comes with a tennis court, an outdoor pool, triple car garaging, and a putting green, first hit the market in June 2025 and had an RV of just over $11m.
Glass declined to give details of the sale, but did tell OneRoof that the upper end of the market was punctured by the uncertainty unleashed by the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East at the end of February.
“We started the year with what we thought was going to be a very strong market. We were dealing with quite a few buyers at the upper level, and then obviously a war happened, and the brakes went on,” Glass said.
“The enquiry was OK, but I think the urgency really came unstuck at that part of the market for quite some time.”
The sale of the Mooney Road estate was closed before the Iran War. Photo / Supplied
The property boasted a luxury finish and offered high-end buyers a fair measure of privacy. Photo / Supplied
The economic impact of rising oil prices was widespread, she said. “I think economically a lot of businesses were impacted, and therefore that does trickle down into our market as well.”
However, since the Australian Government announced an overhaul of the tax discounts enjoyed by property investors, interest in Queenstown-Lakes has picked up again, with some large deals coming together.
“I feel that part of the market is actually coming back quite strong again,” Glass said.
Australian buyers were eyeing New Zealand properties favourably because owning a second home in their own country had become less desirable, she said. “We’ve seen quite a shift in enquiry, particularly from the east coast [of Australia] in the last month.”
Glass and McBride have recently listed a 4ha property in the $4m range that features a historic barn in the heart of the Wakatipu Basin.
“The barn is in its original condition, and there is an opportunity to convert it into guest accommodation or something. It’s just absolutely gorgeous.”
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Some 20km south and overlooking Lake Wakatipu is a trophy home listed with Walker & Co agent Hamish Walker that’s looking for a buyer with over $20m.
Walker told OneRoof that 10 Bluff View Terrace was built in 2012 and was one of the first ultra-high-end properties commissioned in the district.
“Luxury builds were a trend of only the last decade or so,” Walker told OneRoof.
The 877sqm pavilion-style house sits on nearly 4400sqm on the shores of Lake Wakatipu and has wide lake and mountain views. The master suite has two bathrooms and two wardrobes, and the property comes with two offices, a cinema, a gym, and a steam room. Outside is a pool, outdoor fireplace and landscaped grounds. “Price feedback is around $20m,” Walker said of the property, which has an RV of $12.6m.
Walker & Co founder Hamish Walker: "We’re just seeing more and more wealth." Photo / Supplied
Walker is selling a five-bedroom house at Bluff View Terrace, in Drift Bay, for more than $20m. Photo / Supplied
The Bluff View Terrace property is one of several in Queenstown-Lakes attracting the interest of high-net worth buyers from overseas. Photo / Supplied
Walker said that there is serious money coming into Queenstown. Right now, he is working with one international family looking for land to build a multi-house family compound, which, when completed, would exceed $100m.
“We’re just seeing more and more wealth. I’ve got clients who fly in on a private jet at least every month, probably every second week at the moment. They’re from all around the world.”
Walker said the number of ultra-wealthy buyers had grown in the last year, and vendors were responding. Those looking to get a foreign buyer were preparing all the necessary paperwork to certify their home as eligible for AIP visa-holders to help speed up decision-making.
Australian buyers, Walker noted, were getting younger and were no longer buying a holiday home in Queenstown but a permanent base. “They’re not ultra-wealthy. A lot has to do with the tax changes there,” he said, adding that half of the six houses he’d sold in the established suburb Kelvin Heights had been to Australians.
In the last two weeks alone, Walker sold two homes to Australia-based buyers sight unseen. One was a large four-bedroom home on Oregon Drive, which fetched $2.26m after just five days on the market. He had 35 groups of buyers view the property, seven of whom made offers.
“I felt like I was a security guard at a nightclub, with people lined up down the street ready to get in. With competition, the price was 25% above vendor expectations,” he said.
Aspire Realty agent Craig Myles is pitching 335 Beacon Point Road, in Wanaka, to $12m-plus buyers. Photo / Supplied
Luxury Real Estate agents Terry Spice and Nick Horton have recently listed a three-bedroom estate 1 Mica Ridge in Millbrook. Photo / Supplied
Wanaka agent Craig Myles, of Aspire Realty, has also noted a lift in enquiries from Australian buyers. “The whole change in the economic climate within the residential property space in Australia, changes to their taxation, is driving some of that interest over here as well,” he said. “And they’ve got a currency advantage of 20%, so their dollar goes a bit further.”
Myles said he completed a couple of big deals with overseas buyers, including one for well over $10m.
He currently has an ultra-luxury listing on his books, a four-bedroom architecturally designed place at 335 Beacon Point Road, Wanaka, looking for $12m-plus buyers, and a six-bedroom 740sqm house at 8 Foxglove Heights with an asking price of $13.5m.
He noted that 25% to 30% of his listings would be off-market at price points from just under $3m to over $10m, adding that at the $15m-plus level, there would be only one or two deals a year.
Buyers agent Jo Eddington, of Buying Queenstown, who is currently touring America with Invest New Zealand, said that buyers there were excited by the potential of the AIP scheme. “But New Zealand is one of several countries with pretty exciting investment options. Others include Malta, Portugal, Italy, Greece and the Caribbean.”
Buying Queenstown agent Jo Eddington: "New Zealand is one of several countries with pretty exciting investment options." Photo / Supplied
She added that foreign buyers “were not sitting in their private jets on the runway waiting” for the rules to change. However, the AIP scheme had “changed the conversation for these high net worth families from ‘maybe NZ one day’ to ‘Why not now?’,” she said.
Eddington made two of the first AIP deals in the area (both to Europeans), but said deals in the $15m to $20m bracket generally take a long time, so it may be six months or a year before they appear in any figures.
Luxury Real Estate’s Terry Spice told OneRoof that there are not enough properties to meet buyer demand, explaining that prestige homes in Queenstown were tightly held.
“We’re running into a supply wall ... demand for $20m-plus trophy properties outstrips supply,” he said. However, he cautioned that even the savviest buyers with unlimited budgets were not about to over-pay for a slice of New Zealand.
Spice has recently inked a record sale at the exclusive Closeburn Station, which settles later this year, but could not reveal more details.
He did reveal to OneRoof that the number of American buyers in Queenstown had risen in recent weeks. “There have been plenty of private jets in Queenstown lately.”
Spice and colleague Nick Horton have recently listed a three-bedroom trophy home at Millbrook’s 1 Mica Ridge. The 581sqm pavilion-style house, designed by Sumich Chaplin, has an entertainer’s kitchen, a wine cellar, a media lounge, and an outdoor fireplace in a sheltered courtyard. It has an RV of $11.175m.
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