It’s the life that many older Kiwis would envision for themselves if they won Lotto. A country club-style village with luxury homes and views straight out of Lord of the Rings.
This is how wealthy boomers do retirement in Queenstown. No compromise, just the good stuff.
Arvida took OneRoof on a tour of its “premium retirement community” in the Wakatipu Basin, highlighting just how well the other, older half lives.
Arvida is tapping the booming demand for luxury Queenstown homes from retirement-age Kiwis. Its village at 420 Frankton-Ladies Mile Highway, aptly named Queenstown Country Club, is designed to cater for cashed-up retirees who are unlikely to see themselves as your traditional retirement village resident.
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The design of its Queenstown Country Club, with its buildings finished in local stone and timber, winding streets and a resort-style clubhouse, makes the campus look more like a posh holiday resort than a home for OAPs.
The largest villas and penthouse apartments have expansive floor plans that include three bedrooms, a study, a separate laundry, a butler’s pantry and a wet bar. Villas are being sold for just under $4 million, while the new penthouse apartments are asking for around $3m.
The clubhouse was designed by award-winning architects Warren and Mahoney and houses dining rooms, a library, a games room, a gym, a pool and a theatre. Photo / Supplied
The villas feature local stone and luxury finishes inside, and sell for up to $4m each. Photo / Supplied
Tristan Saunders, Arvida general manager of sales and marketing, said that the Country Club concept was aimed squarely at buyers who are used to luxury in their own homes and don’t want to compromise when they are ready to downsize.
“There’s a growing group of over 65s who want high-quality design, they want access to lifestyle, they want care if it’s needed, but they don’t want to know about it now,” he said. “Queenstown’s reputation makes good quality apartments especially appealing.”
Saunders said the 19ha country club site, which Arvida picked up from Sanderson Group in 2019 as part of a $180m deal along with Tauranga properties Bethlehem Country Club and Bethlehem Shores, boasts views of the Remarkables and Coronet Peak, glimpses of the lake, Gibbston Valley and Walter and Cecil Peaks. It sits in the rapidly growing Frankton-Ladies Mile precinct near the town’s airport and new shopping centres.
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Saunders said that around a quarter of his buyers have come from out of town, mainly Aucklanders. The rest are either locals, farmers retiring from large country blocks or what he calls “double hop” locals: people from Dunedin, Invercargill or Christchurch who have had holiday cribs in the town for years and now want to retire into a community, but maintain the same holiday lifestyle.
“We are in the era of boomers who are beginning to come through into retirement communities, and they want different things. They want what they can get in their own property,” Saunders said.
“They go, ‘Yeah, we expect and want the best in our retirement’. They look at their own homes and say, ‘We want the stone top bench, we want beautiful pantries, we want beautiful kitchenware, we want beautiful bathrooms, we want space, we want light, we want sun’.”
Saunders said Queenstown home owners were able to realise the huge increases in their property values. “So, the people purchasing the penthouse, [that $3m price] would not be a significant issue,” he said.
Millbrook resort and golf course, near Queenstown. Photo / Getty Images
Queenstown Country Club is Queenstown’s only premier retirement village and consists of 159 villas, 29 apartments and 72 care suites (another high-end retirement village in Wanaka is operated by Winton). More apartments will be finished in late 2027, while 14 smaller terrace townhouses have just been completed.
Prices top out at Queenstown-level, but Saunders said there are also more modest offerings for under $1m: $795,000 for one-bedroom apartments and two-bedroom apartments start at just under $1m to $1.9m and villas at $1.3m. The new terrace houses are under $900,000.
The campus architecture and layout look more like the region’s expensive gated communities of Millbrook and Bendemeer. The properties were designed by well-known upscale architects Warren and Mahoney and the project won a best design award in 2022.
Like most retirement villages, Queenstown Country Club is run on a license to occupy model, where buyers pay for their places, under an occupational rights agreement. When they come to sell, a 30% deferred management fee is deducted from their purchase price. Residents also pay weekly management fees of between $225 and $275 that cover services, rates and maintenance.
Saunders said that was not an issue for buyers or their families. “People coming in here are absolutely aware of everything on offer in the market ... so our role is not actually the education piece. It is more saying here goes what our community is, the vibe and the feel and whether it’s going to be the right fit for you.”
The Country Club also comes with care beds, something that Saunders said was important for buyers to know for the future, or for couples where one partner needs care, but the other can be independent.
“Most of the 300 retirement community members here are actually very active. So, they’re active in the community still, they’re active in their clubs, they’re active physically,” he said.
While on the tour of the village, OneRoof spied a pack of bikers heading out for a ride, and people working out in the gym and pool. Inside, a genealogy group was meeting in the library and an embroidery guild was stitching beside the fire.
Saunders said: “This is Queenstown at its absolute best. When I look out, I see Coronet Peak, I see the mountains, I see the colours. For most of our residents, it’s a no-brainer. They just come here and go this is the only show in town.”
* OneRoof travelled to Queenstown as a guest of Arvida. Flights were covered by the company.
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