- A luxury mansion in St Heliers is on the market for $18m, attracting foreign buyers.
- The Government’s relaxation of the foreign buyer ban has increased overseas interest in high-value homes.
- The house features high-end finishes and was designed by architect Julian Guthrie.
A three-storey house carved into the hillside in Auckland’s St Heliers has hit the market with an $18 million price tag.
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The new-build trophy home at 4 Keys Terrace has been a prime target for foreign buyers since it was listed in February.
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Greg Dennerly told OneRoof that buyers from Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, and China had all shown interest in the house.
The Government’s recent relaxation of the foreign buyer ban for holders of the new Active Investor Plus visa has led to a spike in overseas enquiries for New Zealand homes worth $5m or more.
“We are getting a lot of inquiries from our international partners for the [Active Investor Plus] visa. I am picking up clients from the hotel or the airport and showing them properties throughout Auckland, from Herne Bay through to St Heliers,” Dennerly said.
The three-level house has wide views of the harbour, Devonport and the Sky Tower. Photo / Supplied
The luxury kitchen features striking backsplashes and benches of backlit granite. Photo / Supplied
“They are looking at New Zealand as a safe economy, a safe place to bring up their kids. They are really treating New Zealand as a bunker,” he said.
In fact, one of his Chinese clients had thought about converting the ground-floor nine-car garage at 4 Keys Terrace into an actual bunker.
Dennerly told OneRoof that the owners of 4 Keys Terrace had “built this because they could”.
They commissioned award-winning architect Julian Guthrie for the initial design and then finished the luxury detailing themselves. “They wanted it to be the best it could be,” he said. “I see a lot of beautiful homes working for Sotheby’s, and this would be one of the best ones in St Heliers.”
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Much of the interior in the concrete tilt slab house is finished in Siberian larch – a hardier finish than the more commonly used cedar. The owners specified European metal cladding on the exterior and a top finish for the aluminium windows and doors. They added high-performance insulation on the roofing, top-of-the-line home automation, sound and security system and air-conditioning.
During One Roof’s exclusive tour of the house, it was hard to look past the luxury finishes: French oak flooring, a kitchen by award-winning Davinia Sutton, cocooning stone bathrooms, a sleek Italian lift and roofing over the front and back terraces that can retract and open to the sun. The kitchen is jaw-dropping, with the counters and backsplash crafted from back-lit stone.
The owners, who are in the property sector, are selling up to be closer to family in Australia.
The three-level house features a plunge pool on the middle floor. Photo / Supplied
The roof on the top-level terrace retracts to let in the winter sun. Photo / Supplied
Dennerly said that locals who had watched the lengthy build were thinking about buying the house, rather than kicking off their own build. “They know they can justify the price; to build it would cost $30,000 per square metre.”
Guthrie told OneRoof that the house had the feel of a “super high-end apartment, but you’ve got the benefit of a standalone property without any sort of body corp issues”.
4 Keys Terrace is a standout in the $5m-plus market in more ways than one. OneRoof research shows that of the 542 residential properties for sale in New Zealand worth $5m or more, foreign buyers would only be able to buy 361 of them. And of those, only 157 (122 houses and 35 apartments) are new builds or have had consented work done in the last 10 years.
As of February 2026, 589 applications have been received for the Active Investor Plus visa – 448 of which have been approved in principle, according to Immigration New Zealand.
- 4 Keys Terrace, Saint Heliers, Auckland, is for sale by negotiation
