- Auckland buyers paid $10.275m for a non-penthouse Herne Bay apartment, highlighting premium boutique demand.
- Agents say downsizers want exclusive, low-maintenance apartments near Herne Bay’s cafes and restaurants.
- Limited supply pushes high-end apartment prices towards mansion levels, with an Ōrākei apartment fetching $11.6m.
Auckland buyers have paid over $10 million for an apartment in Herne Bay – a sum that would easily bag a mansion elsewhere in the city.
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The apartment isn’t even waterfront, or the penthouse, a strong sign that boutique living in Auckland’s wealthiest suburb comes at a premium.
Agents told OneRoof that downsizers are comfortable paying big money to get a “club”-style experience.
The sale took place off-market in March this year, but the $10.275m sale price wasn’t made public until this week.
The full-floor apartment is oriented to the Waitematā Harbour and has a wintergarden, and an indoor-outdoor balcony.
It is one of six in Exhibit, a stylish white limestone brick and concrete low-rise block on Jervois Road, Herne Bay’s premier restaurant strip.
Three years ago, the penthouse and sub-penthouses in the same block sold for $11m and $10.75m respectively – setting new records for apartment sales in the suburb.
The penthouse and sub-penthouse apartments in the same block were sold off-the-plan for $11m and $10.75m in 2023. Photo / Supplied
Most of the apartments have clear views of the Waitematā Harbour. Photo / Supplied
Exhibit is the work of Artifact, the high-end firm run by under-the-radar developers Artifact and Sophie Wylie and Liam Joyce.
It is next door to the award-winning black mesh-covered Jervois Apartments block, which picked up NZIA Auckland awards for its architects, Monk Mackenzie
Wylie and Joyce declined to comment on the sale when contacted by OneRoof this week, but when Exhibit first hit the market in 2023, Wylie revealed the block’s target market.
“[Buyers] are people who are mostly retired, although we do have people who work from home. It makes sense, as a lot of them have either a boat, a holiday house or a secondary residence. It meets the need in that Herne Bay location.”
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Bayleys agent Edward Pack, who closed the $10.275m deal, declined to comment on it, but he did tell OneRoof that the Herne Bay market in general was seeing more downsizers.
“People value being in a small boutique apartment,” he said. “They want to be close to cafes and restaurants, and they want a lock-up-and-leave, low-maintenance lifestyle.
“Apartments are one of the fastest-growing movements in our market.”
Pack said there were not enough high-end boutique-style apartments to meet demand, with many of his buyers comfortable spending $10m or more to get the quality they are looking for.
Wall Real Estate agent Ollie Wall, who also sells in the suburb, said buyers enjoyed the exclusivity of boutique blocks.
The split-level penthouse in Herne Bay’s Shangri La is on the market with a new look. Photo / Supplied
“I think the buyers for these want to be in a building with only six apartments and they’re all very valuable,” he said. “There’s a bit of a club mentality. I think there is comfort in knowing everyone in that building is, you know, well established.”
Wall said that the apartments were not that much cheaper than the big family house price, maybe only 20% so.
“Look at the surrounding houses. Along the Herne Bay waterfront, the big mansions, there are a lot of $15m to $20m houses. That puts the sweet spot of a very high-end apartment at around $11m.”
He said that with few new apartments coming on stream in the area, buyers have turned to lock-up-and-leave townhouses in Herne Bay. Two on Argyle Street, built by property developer Kurt Gibbons, recently fetched close to $7m each.
“The appeal there was to have your own garage and have your own freehold little plot, but still have the luxury that the apartment offers, with nothing to look after.”
Wall is also selling the penthouse in Herne Bay’s original apartment building, the 15-storey Shangri La, also on Jervois Road.
The 429sqm three-bedroom pad on the top two floors of the 1980s classic has breathtaking 360-degree views around the city and across to the Coromandel and Hunua Ranges. It was given an extensive makeover after it changed hands nine years ago.
Complete with marble kitchens and bathrooms and a party floor, it is now on the market for over $10m.
When he gave OneRoof an exclusive tour of the apartment in April, Wall said the Shangri La was a one-off, unlikely to be repeated. “Let’s face it, no one is going to build a 15-storey building in Herne Bay any time soon. And it comes with five car parks – that is just absurd,” he said.
“People are looking at this vintage building and looking at how much space there is compared to new places. You would struggle to find a balcony like this in brand-new apartments.”
Only one other apartment has sold in Auckland for over $10m this year. A garden-level apartment in 22 Karori, another boutique development off Paritai Drive, in Orakei, which fetched $11.6m in February.
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