Wairarapa’s one-of-a-kind poetry house has sold for a record-breaking sum after a six-year search for a buyer.
The seven-bedroom luxury home on Foreman-Jury Road, in Ponatahi, near Carterton, is now the region’s most expensive, fetching $5.27 million - $2m more than the previous record holder.
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Brady Bingham, who marketed the 9ha lifestyle block with colleague Chris Jones, declined to comment on the sale, but in his listing he described the home as "Wairarapa's finest".
The owners told OneRoof in 2020, when they first began searching for a buyer, that they had commissioned award-winning architect Stuart Gardyne to design the home after returning from the UK two decades earlier.
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The resulting residence, Ponatahi House, was a finalist in New Zealand Home & Building magazine's Home of the Year Awards in 2004. Set against sweeping rural views, it features a swimming pool and spa, tennis court, gym, workshop and home cinema.
Award-winning architect Stuart Gardyne designed The House of Literature for the owners in the early 2000s. Photo / Supplied
The property boasts seven bedrooms, a cinema, a gym, a pool and a sauna. Photo / Supplied
The property later earned a reputation as "the house wrapped in literature" after the owners commissioned former New Zealand Poet Laureate Jenny Bornholdt to write an original poem that was sandblasted onto the home's upper-level glass panels.
Bingham told OneRoof that the upper end of the Wairarapa housing market responded to quality architecture and design. Buyers weren't necessarily defined by town boundaries and looked at properties across the district, which includes Carterton, Martinborough, Greytown and Masterton.
The district's most expensive homes typically fetched $2.5m-plus, he said. "Many have been built around a particular vision or story, with unique characteristics that make them genuinely special. They’re not necessarily properties you can easily replicate or compare with anything else on the market."
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Most of the buyers in this price bracket weren't locals, and were a mix of returning expats and buyers based in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom.
"None of these purchasers have bought with the immediate intention of living here permanently. Rather, they’re looking for somewhere to spend time, enjoy the region and potentially transition into a permanent residence later."
Bingham said the Wairarapa had a lot to offer, citing Martinborough's vineyards, the food and wine scene and the stunning scenery. He said the district was relatively undervalued compared with other premium lifestyle destinations around New Zealand. By comparison, lifestyle blocks in Auckland's wealthy fringe suburbs can easily fetch over $10m.
"Buyers can secure some truly exceptional properties here that I believe would command considerably more elsewhere," Bingham told OneRoof.
An architectural award-winning home at 104 Cromarty Drive, in Martinborough, is up for grabs. Photo / Supplied
A home on Mill Grove, in Clareville, in Carterton, attracted five offers and sold for $1.3m. Photo / Supplied
However, only one or two genuinely top-tier homes hit the market each year. Most are in fringe suburbs or rural areas and come with varying amounts of land, making it a longer process to find the right buyer.
Bingham is currently selling a three-bedroom, three-bathroom home on 4.77ha at 104 Cromarty Drive, in Martinborough, that won a New Zealand Architectural Award in 2006 and a five-bedroom, four-bathroom estate on 6ha at 136 Hinekura Road, also in Martinborough. Both were classed as high-end for the region because of their individuality, quality and unique characteristics.
Property Brokers Wairarapa regional director John Arends said the Foreman-Jury Road home was exceptional and agreed with Bingham that the buyer pool for those types of properties in Carterton was very small.
He said Greytown and Martinborough appeared to have a stronger pull for out-of-towners because of the cafe and wine lifestyle, which made those areas slightly more premium.
"It tends to be that the further north you go in the Wairarapa, the more affordable they generally are."
A four-bedroom do-up for sale at 2 Taverner Street, Carterton, has an RV of just under $500,000. Photo / Supplied
Arends said a lot of the movement in the Carterton and Masterton housing market was from within the town itself, with people upgrading and downsizing to suit their age and stage. Sales had dropped significantly since the peak, but had been relatively stable over the last few years, hovering around the low to mid-100s.
Tremains Wairarapa sales manager Dani Carrig said anything over $1.1m was still classed as high-end in the town itself. “That’s definitely the higher end unless you are looking at lifestyle further out of town.”
Her colleagues Sylvia Wildemoth and Kylie Baron recently got $1.3m for a property on Mill Grove, one of the town’s most expensive streets. The four-bedroom, two-bathroom property attracted strong interest and had received five offers.
“There was nothing else that really compared to that property when it went to the market. There are some beautiful properties there, but the majority of the higher end probably sits around the $1m to $1.1m or $1.2m, so that’s where this one definitely stood out.”
Wildemoth and Baron are now selling a house at 25 Mill Grove. The four-bedroom, two-bathroom property is on 2339sqm and is being pitched as a quality family home in a highly desirable location.
Carrig said people loved Carterton because it was a friendly town that offered a more relaxed, quieter lifestyle than Wellington, but was still close enough to commute to Wellington a few days a week if required.
“Carterton just really appeals to people coming from the Lower Hutt and Wellington market because it's cost-effective for them when they are selling out of that market and purchasing something really nice here,” she said.
“It just seems to be the town to go to unless you are looking for really boutique style and then you are looking at Martinborough or Greytown,” she said, adding that it also appealed to some buyers over Masterton because there was less hustle and bustle.
Carrig said there was something for every budget, with prices in the town starting from $300,000. Buyers after a renovation project could consider the four-bedroom do-up at 2 Taverner Street, which has an RV of $480,000, while those seeking a lifestyle escape could look to 399 Dalefield Road, where buyer enquiry starts at $1.195m.
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