- Luxury baches are attracting wealthy buyers, with average prices at Medlands Beach exceeding $2m.
- But properties take longer to sell due to high travel costs and demand for flights.
- Buyers have to be a bit more resilient and handy with tools, as the island is off-grid.
Great Barrier Island’s housing market has calmed down in recent years, but wealthy buyers are still flying in to see what’s available.
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Barfoot & Thompson agent Nadja Court, who has several listings on the island, said buyer inquiries had dropped by 50% since market peak in 2021 and thought that the cost of getting to and from the island was a factor.
The island is about 4.5 hours by boat or 30 minutes by plane. Court said she had friends who had recently spent just under $4000 for a week’s holiday on the island, but the boat trip had pushed up the price of the holiday to around $6000.
167 Sandhills Road, on Great Barrier Island, is aiming to find buyers with more than $2m to spend. Photo / Supplied
“That’s not on the beachfront or anything – and they had to book in April to come,” Court told OneRoof.
Court, who has owned a bach at Medlands Beach on the east side of the island for 26 years, said that while the cheaper holiday baches used to turn over regularly, now people were coming for the luxury baches and staying longer.
The average sale price for homes along the Medlands beachfront now exceeded $2m, she said. “It’s becoming more a playground for wealthier people who can afford to fly in and out who want to be off the grid a bit.”
There were still “cheap, gorgeous baches” available but many people from Auckland, Queenstown, Wanaka and Christchurch were buying the higher-end properties, while the cheaper baches and houses were going to people wanting to change their lifestyle and live on the island full-time.
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Court said she had sold sections at Palmers surf beach, also on the eastern side, for $3m eight or 10 years ago. They now had $10m, $15m and $20m houses built on them.
Those properties did not tend to come on the market, she said, and while the island did attract many high-profile buyers, most of them preferred to fly under the radar.
“There’s more and more helicopters – people flying in on helicopters. In the last five to 10 years things have changed dramatically,” Court said.
The two-bedroom bach at 167 Sandhills Road was built by the listing agent’s friends 15 years ago. Photo / Supplied
People tended to head to Great Barrier for the hiking, boating, surfing and the sense of community, she said. And while many of the residents liked the slower pace of life and off-grid aspect of the island, they didn’t lack comfort, with most of the houses on the island “amazing”.
Saying that, being able to fix things went a long way, Court said. “Everything on the island is run on solar, so there’s no power, and all the water is provided by rainwater. You have to get used to a bit more adversity because things always go wrong, so you have to learn.”
One of Court’s listings is a two-bedroom, two-bathroom waterfront property at 167 Sandhills Road, Medlands Beach, which she expects to sell for $2m-plus.
“It was built by some friends 15 years ago. It looks like the bow of a ship and it’s got an outdoor bath under the stars, gorgeous stunning views, private.”
The beaches on Great Barrier Island are a big drawcard for visitors and buyers. Photo / Aucklandnz
The Milky Way from Great Barrier Island. Photo / Aucklandnz
The colours were paua shell-themed, Court said. “It’s very cool.”
The property has been on the market for a few months but Court said properties tended to take longer to sell on the island.
“Over Christmas it’s hard to get to and from the island because there’s so much demand for flights. When you’re selling something on Great Barrier, you have to give it time.”
Often, buyers were people who had holidayed on the island, because “once you’ve been holidaying here or had a bach here you don’t want to go anywhere else”.
And even though it was pricey to get to and from, Court said driving for hours in traffic to get to other holiday spots on the mainland probably cost just as much.
Storm Cottage, at Medlands Beach, on Great Barrier Island is expected to fetch a top price. Photo / Wall Real Estate
The two-bedroom bach was designed by Fearon Hay. Photo / Wall Real estate
Another piece of prime real estate for sale on the island is an architecturally-designed cottage, called Storm Cottage, which is also at Medlands Beach.
This one is being marketed by the Walls, an Auckland-based father and sons agency which sells high-end homes in and around Auckland and beyond, but this is their first on the Barrier.
The Fearon Hay off-grid house was designed by the firm’s principal, Tim Hay, for his family and includes two bedrooms, its own solar and water systems, and boasts views across the popular beach.
Ollie Wall said it would be hard to price the house but noted an empty section on Medlands recently sold for $2.5m.
“It would cost about $4.5m to do this project today. We tried to do some research but in the last 10 years people don’t sell these places, they keep them forever.”
- Click here to find more properties for sale on Great Barrier Island