Richie and Gemma McCaw have sold their Christchurch home for an undisclosed sum at auction today.
The couple’s property was sold after hitting $3.6 million in the auction room and 20 minutes of negotiations with the buyers.
The auctioneer declared to the room that the property had been withdrawn and sold, but did not reveal the price.
Richie McCaw reportedly witnessed the auction drama in person, with the former All Black seen walking into the Harcourts Gold office ahead of the sale.
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The auction opened with a vendor bid of $3m and rose in increments of between $50,000 and $100,000 as two buyers went head-to-head over the luxury home, which was the last to be called at the auction.
A crowd of about 30 people watched as a total of 10 bids were made.
Harcourts Gold managing director and office auctioneer Chris Kennedy told those in the room that it was a “fabulous offering” in the heart of Fendalton. “I love the situation, and I love the home.”
The McCaws listed their four-bedroom home on Jacksons Road, in Fendalton, at the end of February. The property attracted tens of thousands of views and on OneRoof, it became 2026’s most viewed listing by a wide margin, with much of the interest coming from Auckland buyers.
The McCaws’ four-bedroom architect-designed home, built 12 years ago, sits on over 1000sqm and has a swimming pool and basketball hoop. Photo / Supplied
The open-plan kitchen, living and dining rooms have floor-to-ceiling sliding doors to the garden. Photo / Supplied
The McCaws’ kitchen is by award-winning designer Ingrid Geldof and includes a separate butler’s pantry. Photo / Supplied
Harcourts Gold listing agent Cameron Bailey was unable to reveal the exact sale price, but confirmed it sold in excess of $3.6m.
He told OneRoof there were four interested parties, including the two who bid on the day. The new owners were a “beautiful family” who picked up what Bailey described as a “really good home” on a large sun-drenched section.
Bailey said the McCaws were happy with the result. “They take it seriously. It was a big thing for them, it was their family home, it’s a lot of money. He drove up from Wānaka - it shows you how committed to it they were,” he said.
“I don’t think anyone pays any more or wants it because it’s Richie and Gemma’s house because at the end of the day they are not coming with the house, but it was just a really good home. And I think it shows you the depth of the Christchurch market when you have four people in the mix and two people bidding on a $3m-plus home.”
Bailey told OneRoof ahead of the auction that he felt there would be strong competition for the house.
“You never know who is going to be there until the day, but it feels like we are going to have competitive bidding.”
The McCaws bought the luxury four-bedroom, two-bathroom home in 2021 for $3.25m and are selling up following a move to Wānaka more than a year ago.
Richie and Gemma McCaw shifted to Wānaka over a year ago. Photo / Getty Images
The couple in 2023, three weeks before the birth of their third daughter. Photo / Instagram
The house was designed by David Sheppard, of Sheppard and Rout Architects, and built in 2014. Award-winning interior designer Ingrid Geldof designed the kitchen with dark cabinetry complementing the white kitchen bench, which also has a hidden butler’s pantry. It is set on a rear 1047sqm section and features an inground pool and basketball hoop.
Bailey told OneRoof that it was a beautiful private, family home and that the McCaws had loved living there. “They’ve loved it, they’ve loved the location,” he said.
The sale of the Jacksons Road property follows some high-profile sales in Christchurch’s wealthy suburbs. Last week, the owners of a 1970s unit on Repton Street, in Merivale, walked away with an impressive $1.54m – $350,000 more than they had expected – after intense bidding.
The auction for the three-bedroom, two-bathroom cross-lease property was brought forward by three days after the owners received an offer of $1.19m. Two bidders in the auction room placed a flurry of bids, pushing the sale price higher.
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Harcourts Gold agent Deb Crosby said a downsizer and an out-of-towner were very interested in the property.
Crosby said single-level units in Merivale were scarce, and that her listing was unusual because it had undergone an architectural enhancement in 2009, was double-glazed, north-facing, and had a double garage and two off-street carparks.
“It was a good property, and these two people wanted to buy it, and because we had two people fighting over it, it went for a great price.”
Kennedy said the auction “just kept going and going and going”.
“It was just an absolute scrap between those in the auction room that day. It was just phenomenal,” he told OneRoof.
A three-bedroom unit on Repton Street, in Merivale, fetched $1.54m at a heated auction last week. Photo / Supplied
A five-bedroom home on Glandovey Road, in Fendalton, was snapped up for $8.34m - making it the highest auction sale in Christchurch. Photo / Supplied
Kennedy said properties like Repton Street didn’t hit the market often, but when they did, they attracted a lot of attention.
Just days earlier, another property in the neighbouring suburb of Fendalton smashed the city’s auction record after selling for $8.34m.
A local family snapped up the five-bedroom home on Glandovey Road, which was designed by Darren O’Neil, of O’Neill Architecture.
Harcourts Grenadier agent Alison Aitken earlier told OneRoof that there had been a lot of interest in the property because it was “gorgeous looking” and on a rare but sought-after 2479sqm section on the river boundary.
Aitken agreed with Bailey that while most of the high-end homes in the city attracted some out-of-town interest, they mostly ended up being bought by locals.
“There’s plenty of money here,” she said. “There are plenty of people in Christchurch with big cheque books, and they are already living here and are just upgrading. And they only come out when you get a listing like that, they are not actively looking until something like that pops up on the market.”
Ex-All Black Joe Karam and his partner Lisa Lidgard are selling their four-bedroom Kawau Island home. Photo / Supplied
For those who missed out on the McCaw home and are hankering for a house linked to the All Blacks, there is another option on the market.
Joe Karam, who played over 40 games between 1972 and 1975, including 10 test matches, is selling his family bach on Kawau Island, in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf.
Karam is more recently known for his support of David Bain, who was first convicted, then acquitted, of killing his family.
Karam and his partner renovated the house on the water, which has drive-on access for the couple’s Sealegs boat, and he told OneRoof they were remaining on the island but moving to something easier to maintain.
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