- Luxury bach Waimataruru is for sale after featuring on Phil Spencer’s show.
- The three-bedroom home on 10ha won the NZIA housing award in 2022 and HERE magazine’s best house.
- The owners are selling to pursue a new project in Canterbury’s Banks Peninsula.
A Coromandel stunner that won over UK TV star Phil Spencer will hit the market for sale this week.
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Waimataruru recently featured on Spencer’s hit series, showcasing the best homes New Zealand has to offer.
The three-bedroom home, which sits on 10ha overlooking Ōtama beach, won the NZIA housing award in 2022 and was named the country’s best house by HERE magazine the same year.
Owner Kristina Pickford told OneRoof that she and her husband, Michael Wolfe, had decided to sell the property after finding another project on Banks Peninsula, in their home region of Canterbury.
“There is a bit of a pull back there with friends and family and an opportunity that has come up,” she said. “[But] if we don’t sell this for the right money, then we will be happy to stay here.”
The couple bought the land at 344 Black Jack Road for just under $1.2 million in 2016 after an extensive search that stretched from Rawhiti, in the Bay of Islands, to Auckland’s Matakana region, Waiheke Island, and across the Coromandel Peninsula.
The beautifully crafted home sits on 10ha and boasts stunning views. Photo / Sam Hartnett
The property has an RV of $5.37m and has won various design awards. Photo / Sam Hartnett
“We moved up from Canterbury for this project,” she said, adding that the beach town was home to other “architectural gems”, including one owned by celebrated architect Ken Crosson.
Pickford, an interior designer, said she collaborated with architect Rory Kofoed and then with PAC Studio to create a home that made the most of the extraordinary views on offer. The house faces north with a single roof plane that follows the land’s contour, giving all the rooms views of the bush and ocean, and, inside, steps between the levels.
“It was about the house feeling very at home in that landscape. We wanted to feel seamlessly integrated. It is very connected to the outside, and that was a real challenge on the sloping site. It was really critical to me that I get out easily and touch the soil, be right there in the landscape.”
She added: “I have to pinch myself quite often - it’s just such a magical spot in an extraordinary part of the world."
During the show, Spencer is overwhelmed by the bach, telling viewers: “The house is quiet. It’s not a loud statement, it’s more of a whisper, and it just complements where it sits so perfectly.”
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The Coromandel featured prominently in the recent TVNZ series New Zealand’s Best Homes With Phil Spencer, with the star of Location, Location, Location singing the praises of the district and its amazing baches over several episodes.
Spencer’s visit took place last summer, but the show has helped energise the current crop of buyers and homeowners. OneRoof reported last month that one of the beach homes he walked through was a sign of Coromandel’s future.
The 500sqm Pauanui House, which dominates Champion Place, in Pauanui, and featured in episode one of the show is the culmination of a multi-year rebuild by its owners.
They bought a 1990s house in early 2021 for $3.75m, just as the market was ramping up. They instructed Auckland architecture star Julian Guthrie to retain the original home’s concrete shell and bring his genius to everything else.
UK real estate star Phil Spencer fell in love with the Coromandel during his second season of New Zealand’s Best Homes With Phil Spencer. Photo / TVNZ
The new home has an RV of $6.81m, but knowing that build costs on luxury homes easily top $15,000 per square metre, the true value of the owners’ multi-generational bach would be worth a lot more on the open market.
Guthrie’s design is resplendent with cedar, poured concrete, and exquisite finishes.
Bayleys agent Dale Sholson, who brokered the sale of the property to the new owners four years ago, told OneRoof that its “rebirth” was a credit to the owners and builders.
Sholson, who sold a $8.5m bach in Whangamatā last month, said that many buyers at the upper end of the market in his patch often replaced the existing home with something new or carried out extensive renovations.
“A lot of time, it’s people moving forward or upgrading the property to achieve a much larger place,” Sholson said.
“They might be one row back, so want to move towards the beachfront, or they want to modernise a beachfront home as opposed to rebuilding what they have.”
Parihoa Estate on Constable Road, Muriwai, also featured on Spencer’s show. It was home to Hollywood star Brad Pitt when he was filming Heart of the Beast in Auckland this year and is for sale. Photo / Supplied
Bayleys agent Lea Jurkovich, who sells in the Whangamatā and Whitianga area, said Spencer’s appearance on screens in the Coromandel had been helpful.
“I’m pleased that Phil Spencer has generated some activity. I think there might be a lot of enquiry.”
Pickford’s bach is not the only home from Spencer’s series to be offered to buyers. Also on the market for sale is Parihoa House, at 232 Constable Road, at Auckland’s Muriwai Beach.
The landmark retreat is owned by multimillionaire wellness guru Matt Chapman and hit the headlines at the start of the year when OneRoof reported that it hosted actor Brad Pitt while he filmed his new blockbuster movie, Heart of the Beast, in New Zealand.
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