- Celebrity homes attract attention but don't necessarily command higher prices, say real estate agents.
- Buyers focus on property value and suitability, not just the fame of the previous owner.
- Media coverage increases visibility, but genuine buyers still prioritise due diligence and property worth.
When celebrities sell their homes, does star power make a difference? Are Kiwi buyers willing to pay extra for a piece of glamour?
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OneRoof asked real estate agents linked to some high-profile house sales the above ahead of one of this year's biggest auctions, the sale of former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's Auckland bungalow.
Harcourts Gold agent Cameron Bailey, who sold Richie and Gemma McCaw’s Christchurch home in March, reckoned the fame factor didn’t “make a world of difference.
“We didn’t actively market it that way,” he told OneRoof. “The media jumped on it. But I think most Kiwis are decent people, and they won’t come through for a nosey. And I don’t think people pay a premium just because it's someone famous’s house."
Dame Jacinda Ardern with Clarke Gayford last year. The couple are selling their Auckland bungalow. Photo / Getty Images
The Sandringham home heads to auction tonight with an RV of over $2m. Photo / Supplied
A local radio presenter had alerted the world that the Fendalton house belonged to the McCaws, who had long since shifted to Wanaka.
The luxury home, easily OneRoof's most-viewed listing this year, attracted significant media attention, and there was a good crowd at the auction.
Two buyers went head-to-head over 30 bids, and after a 20-minute pause for negotiations at $3.6 million, the property was sold for an undisclosed sum. OneRoof can now reveal that the sale price was quite a bit more than previously thought - $3.775m, well above the RV of $3.4m.
Bailey said that while it is nice that more people see a listing once the media picks up a story, “from a real estate point of view, I don’t think it matters whether it is Jim’s house or Jacinda’s house".
Richie and Gemma McCaw made headlines with the sale of their Christchurch home earlier this year. Photo / Getty Images
The luxury Fendalton pad was snapped up for $3.775m after post-auction negotiations. Photo / Supplied
“People still do their due diligence, they still want to investigate a property, they still want to pay what it is worth,” he said.
Bailey thought that houses from Grand Designs would fare better when it came to price, because buyers would likely conclude that they were quality builds.
“It’s all branding and marketing, isn’t it? That’s why Louis Vuitton bags are worth more than the Glassons bags.”
It is not just sports stars who bring in the numbers to property listings and open homes. Over the years, OneRoof has covered houses touched by international stars – Brad Pitt, Keith Richards, Noel Edmonds, Phil Spencer, and even King Charles III.
When a famous owner is known for their home skills – and shows the place on social media - then that does help the real estate numbers, said Jason Eves of luxury Tauranga property agency Oliver Road.
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Eves marketed the Te Puna house of Masterchef winner and lifestyle influencer Chelsea Winter at the end of 2022. In his advertising, he pushed that it had a designer kitchen fit for a professional cook, but keen Winter fans already recognised the country estate from her social media posts.
“Chelsea is a stalwart of the kitchen as the heart of the home, a much-loved household name, and a beacon of homemaking, and as such, it's hard to imagine her name not benefiting the marketing exposure and reach of the campaign to sell her home,” Eves said.
"There was an aspirational lifestyle element to the campaign for some buyers."
He added that while possibly some of the early viewers at open homes were simply interested in seeing the star’s home in real life, most were genuine buyers. “I don't believe the celebrity ownership ultimately uncovered a buyer that wouldn't have otherwise come,” he said, noting that buyers doing the deal would look at suitability and value, as for any other house.
Chelsea Winter's three-bedroom home in Te Puna attracted fans when it hit the market in 2022. Photo / Supplied
Winter’s house, which launched with an asking price of $2.49m, sold two months later for just over $1.998m after two significant price adjustments.
When TV comedian Jeremy Corbett decided at the beginning of last year it was time to downsize from his multi-million-dollar Epsom home, Bayleys agent Lorraine Young gently encouraged him to put his media skills to good use and pitch the house.
OneRoof’s interview with the star at his home was one of the site's most read articles of 2025.
“Respecting there is an element of privacy you want to protect, it definitely creates curiosity in the market [and] that can increase numbers through the home,” Young said.
Comedian Jeremy Corbett's Epsom home was one of OneRoof's most viewed homes last year. Photo / Dean Purcell
However, she was realistic that the property had to tick buyer boxes. As it happens, Young said, the eventual buyers were from the neighbourhood and already knew and loved the house even before it came on the market.
“It’s about the property, not the personality who owns it. We did find a buyer who was very emotionally engaged with the property. They've done a beautiful renovation and kept its entire character intact,” Young said.
The property fetched $4.5m, just below its $4.75m RV, but well above the $3m-plus the couple had paid for it a decade earlier.
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agents Jackie Parker and Kristina Marmont, who are marketing rugby star Julian Savea’s lifestyle block on Mahoenui Valley Road, in Auckland’s Coatesville, told OneRoof that fame brings eyeballs to a property.
“Where it gets interesting is what happens after the eyes arrive,” the agents said, adding that some of the curious viewers may not have considered a lifestyle property before.
“That is not necessarily a bad thing: a bigger pool at the top of the funnel still produces genuine buyers at the bottom.
“Nobody pays a premium purely because a well-known person once lived there.”
The agents said that no matter how used to the media spotlight a vendor was, when it came to selling their own home, they were still going through one of the biggest transactions of their lives. "They deserve the same discretion and care regardless of how public their profile is,” they said.
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