New Zealand's residential price record has been decisively broken, with Northland luxury estate Andersons Cove selling for $56 million, more than $10m above the previous benchmark. Veteran agent Graham Wall called the trophy property a "bargain", arguing its unrivalled beachfront setting in one of the country's most desirable locations justified an even higher price. Fellow prestige agent Ross Hawkins said tightly held waterfront estates of this calibre rarely hit the market and would continue setting new records, with favourable exchange rates boosting overseas demand. Catherine Smith reports.
New Zealand's house price record has officially been broken. Andersons Cove, a sprawling coastal estate north of Auckland, was bought for $56 million - beating the previous record-holder by over $10m.
The 48ha property on Bream Tail Road, at Langs Beach, Northland, was snapped up by an expat in May this year, but the sale price was only released this week.
Bayleys listing agents Sarah Dyer and Duncan Ross put the sold sticker on the luxury resort less than a month after taking the property to the open market.
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The sale price beats the $45.5m that Walker & Co agent Hamish Walker got in 2023 for Chantecler, a sprawling estate just outside of Queenstown.
It's also the first to cross the psychologically significant $50m barrier, but the record may not stand for long as the Auckland mansion of rich-listers Simon and Paula Herbert is back on the market with an asking price of $60m-plus.
Wall Real Estate founder Graham Wall, who held the price record for 10 years with his $38.75m sale of the former Hotchin mansion in Auckland's Orakei in 2013, said at $56m, Andersons Cove was a bargain.
The grand, four-bedroom primary residence at Andersons Cove was designed by acclaimed New Zealand architect Andrew Patterson. Photo / Supplied
The Potting Shed is an elegant one-bedroom, self-contained luxury escape that is now rented out for $3250 a night to mainly overseas visitors. Photo / Supplied
Andersons Cove's Clifftops Lodge is an off-grid, safari-themed abode, with two bedrooms, four-poster beds and two luxury ensuites. Photo / Supplied
The estate has a secret rose garden, a glade of nikau palms, an orange grove, and a dam that’s home to white swans and ducks. Photo / Supplied
“It's one of the most beautiful little parts of New Zealand and New Zealand is the most beautiful place on earth, so therefore it's one of the most beautiful places on God's earth,” Wall told OneRoof.
"Look at Bruce Plested's [$72m] purchase on Waiheke Island. Some would say Andersons Cove should be more valuable. I just say it's a bargain.”
Wall said that the price proved once again that “our beautiful, beautiful country is the safest place on earth to be and in these troubled times will get more valuable every single day. We are blessed, the luckiest people in the world.”
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Real Estate agent Ross Hawkins, who is marketing a property on the same strip of coast looking for around $15m, said properties like Andersons Cove rarely came to market, which made them extremely valuable.
“These extremely unique and private waterfront offerings very rarely come to market and are generally tightly held and often stay in the family,” Hawkins said, adding that prestige property in New Zealand was relatively cheap compared to Australia.
“These are the properties in New Zealand that will continue to increase in value and set record prices. The exchange rate is another factor increasing our desirability.”
Walker congratulated Ross and Dyer for breaking his record, joking that he owed them a drink. “Hopefully, their record is broken some time soon. There are definitely more people coming in from overseas.”
Walker said he was negotiating a $20m deal and both buyers were based overseas, which was typical for properties at the top end the market.
OneRoof wrote about Andersons Cove when it hit the market in April. The resort was owned by Kiwi entrepreneur David Nathan, who died at the end of last year, and his wife Pamela.
They brought the resort to life over three decades and gave it an unmistakable Hawaii-type vibe.
The property is home to a collection of luxury residences situated amongst exquisitely landscaped gardens, manicured lawns, native bush and rolling pasture.
15 Cremorne Street, in Auckland's Herne Bay, is back on the market and looking for $60m-plus. Photo / Supplied
Chantecler, in Queenstown-Lakes, sold for $45.5m in 2023. Its sale price record stood for almost three years. Photo / New Zealand Herald
The main home is a grand, four-bedroom retreat designed by acclaimed architect Andrew Patterson. There's also the Potting Shed, an elegant one-bedroom self-contained escape; Clifftops Lodge, a two-bedroom safari-style retreat; and The Boatshed, a three-bedroom dwelling on the water’s edge that also houses all the water toys.
Daughter Sarah told OneRoof that her parents had been searching for over 10 years for the right place.
“They had very specific requirements – Dad wanted riparian rights and absolute beachfront, with privacy as one of his top priorities, as well as wanting to be close to Auckland.”
They found out about the property purely by chance, and although it was just a humble Lockwood set amongst scrubby bush back then, it was love at first sight for David when the family went and had a look.
“After telling us to be cool, don’t get excited and not let on we like it, he completely lost his composure and said to the real estate agent, ‘I need to make this happen, we have to have it’,” she recalls.
When it came to briefing Patterson for the design of their new home, the Nathans, who were also extraordinarily private people, let the landscape do the talking.
“They didn’t say much to him, just brought him up here and said, ‘we want something that is sympathetic to the landscape and the seascape, with Pacific roots – like Fiji and Hawaii’," Sarah said.
“He absolutely nailed the brief, Mum and Dad were blown away. But a condition of the commission was that Andrew never shared the design or entered it into any competitions, because they preferred to stay under the radar.”
Bayleys listing agent Duncan Ross told OneRoof in April that a property of this calibre in this position was rare. “You’ve got riparian rights and direct access to effectively your own private east coast beach, along with the 48 hectares that come with it. I haven’t come across anything like it myself, it’s phenomenal.
“We put it out to our database and have had a really good response, with both local and offshore interest. It’s also 25 minutes from Te Arai and Tara Iti.”
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