- Putting greens are becoming a status symbol in luxury Auckland homes, with two recently listed.
- Lindsay Aitken’s Whenuapai home features a $15,000 green, pool, and $7m RV.
- A Belmont home with a waterfront view and putting green is priced at $8.495m.
Putting greens are becoming the new upmarket home status symbol for golf lovers. In a little over a week, two luxury Auckland homes with putting greens have been listed for sale, one in Whenuapai and the other in Belmont.
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For Jalcon Homes boss Lindsay Aitken, the putting green was a solution to a gardening problem at his home in 49 Totara Road, in Auckland’s Whenuapai. The fact that Aitken and his wife Julie both love golf was a bonus.
“The lawn outside our family room was a bit hard to get with a lawnmower,” he told OneRoof. “We thought it would help our golf and be low maintenance. It looks attractive as well. We go out and practice our putting and chipping on the lawn.”
49 Totara Road boasts a putting green that the owners installed as a solution to a gardening problem. Photo / Supplied
The couple’s palatial home overlooking the harbour also has a swimming pool and an RV of $7 million. It is on the market for sale with Paterson Luxury agent Caleb Paterson, who deals in high-end homes in Auckland’s north-west lifestyle fringe.
Aitken said several Jalcon clients in the neighbourhood had putting greens. His own one cost $15,000 to install, more expensive than most, but that was mostly due to limited access. At Jalcon’s homes in neighbouring Hobsonville, the cost of an artificial lawn was typically $5000 to $6000.
“A lot of people don’t want a [real] lawn, they want a lock-up-and-leave, so we’re increasingly using artificial grass at our properties. “
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The Aitkens built their home in the early 2000s after demolishing an existing cottage on the one-hectare site. They replaced it with a six-bedroom, four-bathroom property home designed by Kim Veltman Architecture.
Unlike many new-build homes from that era, their house was built with weatherboards, not plaster. “We liked the look of the Cape Cod-style dark weatherboards. We were quite conscious of the leaky properties around. We made sure everything we did, like the pitched roof and the weatherboards, was for longevity,” Aitken said.
The property is zoned for future urban development and has potential for future subdivision. Aitken told OneRoof the couple were moving to be closer to their grandchildren. “The property’s way too big for just my wife and me,” he said, adding that they were considering buying an off-the-shelf Jalcon-built home in Hobsonville.
24 Seacliffe Avenue, in Belmont, Auckland, has a price tag of $8.495m. Photo / Supplied
The property’s putting green is one of several luxury touches. Photo / Supplied
Also on the market for sale with a putting green is a five-bedroom luxury home at 24 Seacliffe Avenue, in Belmont. The waterfront property, which is owned by a high-profile sporting personality, has a putting green with views across the Waitematā Harbour to Rangitoto and has a price tag of $8.495m.
The property, which is listed with Precision Real Estate’s Andrew Dorreen, was built in 2017 and last changed hands in July 2023 for $8.25m. In his listing on OneRoof, Dorreen highlighted a long list of luxury features the house offered, saying “this landmark property must be seen to be fully appreciated”.
The house has an outdoor pool, a dedicated games room with pool and air hockey tables, a chef’s kitchen, and a master suite with “spectacular elevated views and its own private balcony overlooking the sea”.
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