- OneRoof revealed the top property sales this year, mostly exceeding $20m.
- Auckland’s most expensive home sold for around $40m, setting a new city record.
- Demand for $10m-plus homes is rising, with buyers from China, Singapore, and the UK.
A home rented by a Hollywood star, a property with a helicopter hangar and a rare multimillion-dollar mansion swap were among New Zealand’s most expensive properties sold this year.
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OneRoof has revealed the country’s biggest sales this year, the majority of which have price tags of more than $20 million.
It comes as real estate agents working in the country’s luxury property market say demand for homes worth $10m-plus was heating up.
Most of the multimillion-dollar deals were done in Auckland’s wealthier suburbs, including Remuera, Herne Bay, Mission Bay, and Orakei. The only exceptions are big spenders in the Western Bay of Plenty, Tasman and Queenstown.
Auckland’s most expensive home, and top of OneRoof’s biggest seller list for 2025, sold for around $40m.
The Arney Road mansion was snapped up by a mystery buyer, setting a new house price record for the city and surpassing the $38.5m paid by a Chinese businessman in 2013.
The 1ha, five-bedroom property overlooking Auckland Harbour features a large four-car garage, tennis court and swimming pool. The Remuera estate was previously owned by Hugh Wright, founder of the menswear clothing chain, and entrepreneur Diane Foreman and her then-husband Bill Foreman.
Arney Road, in Auckland’s Remuera, is one of New Zealand’s wealthiest streets and is home to the city’s most expensive home. Photo / Alex Burton
The agency involved in the off-market deal declined to comment when OneRoof reached out at the time of sale. The vendor could not be reached.
The next big transaction was the sale of Kiwi rich-lister Ben Cook’s Auckland mansion for $35m in September.
Records show the three-level, six-bedroom home, with private beach access and a helicopter hangar, was transferred to Trustee Services Ltd.
Wall Real Estate agent Ollie Wall confirmed the company brokered the deal but could not comment further. OneRoof also contacted Cook’s company, Cook Property, for comment.
Rich-lister property developer Ben Cook sold his mansion on Sentinel Road, in Auckland’s Herne Bay, for $35m. Photo / Supplied
Cook in Europe. He has been steadily selling off his NZ assets since announcing his move to Australia. Photo / Supplied
Third on the list is the sale of rich-lister property developer Kurt Gibbons’ home in April.
The home, which is reported to have sold for circa $30m, also made the list of top 10 most-viewed property listings on OneRoof this year.
OneRoof asked Bayleys listing agent Edward Pack if the house had sold for more than New Zealand’s house price record of $45.5m, held by a Queenstown home, but he could not disclose the figure.
Gibbons bought the five-bedroom property more than four years ago for $23.5m and commissioned architects Fearon Hay to help renovate it. The luxury waterfront home includes a pool and a tennis court.
Rich-lister property developer Kurt Gibbons sold his waterfront Herne Bay mansion on Marine Parade earlier this year, but the sale price remains private for now. Photo / Supplied
Fourth on the list is a home Hollywood actor Jason Statham rented while staying in New Zealand.
The Rawene Avenue property, where Statham stayed while shooting the blockbuster film The Meg in 2016, was snapped up as part of a $56m mansion swap in March.
A rich-lister businessman bought the four-bedroom mansion, built by entrepreneur Sharon Hunter and former Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell, for $28m.
The same businessman sold his five-bedroom mansion on Ronaki Road to the vendors of Rawene Avenue for the same price to make it the fifth biggest sale for the year.
The four-bedroom trophy home on Rawene Avenue, in Auckland’s Westmere, was built by rich-lister Sharon Hunter and former Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell. Photo / Ted Baghurst
The Rawene Avenue vendors bought this impressive home on Ronaki Road, in Auckland’s Mission Bay, while the owner of Ronaki Road got their Westmere home. Photo / Simon Devitt
Bayleys agent Sarah Liu said both were “amazing” properties.
It was rare for luxury properties to switch hands like they did in this high-end deal but both buyers were happy in their new homes.
“It doesn’t happen that often. But they both liked each other’s properties and it was a good match.”
Liu said she had sold many high-end properties this year, including $11.2m and $15m sales in Orakei and others under contract for $25m and $35m.
Buyers looking for luxury properties were typically from “all over the world”, including China, Singapore, America, Vietnam and the United Kingdom.
“High-end buyers were choosing New Zealand for a safe place to live.”
A five-bedroom luxury mansion on Ronaki Road, in Auckland’s Mission Bay, sold for more than $20m just two weeks after it hit the market. Photo / Supplied
A trophy home on an elite Auckland street, which had more than 20 wealthy buyers show interest, sold within just two weeks for $22m in March, and is number six on the OneRoof list.
The mansion was described by listing agent Ollie Wall, of Wall Real Estate, as “every wealthy Kiwi’s dream property”.
“We got serious interest from almost everyone who viewed the house. It ticked all the boxes. We had people lining up outside the door," he told OneRoof in April.
“None of these people were looking to buy a house, but when they see something of this high quality, they are ready to go.”
Sea Wall House, on Marine Parade, in Auckland’s Herne Bay, was snapped up for $20m. Photo / George McNabb, Pattersons Associates, Architects
Wall also sold a waterfront Herne Bay home to rich-lister financier Martyn Reesby in May for $20m - $8m above its RV.
He told OneRoof that both sales highlighted that there were plenty of buyers seeking high-quality and well-finished homes.
“We are seeing plenty of demand for well-finished, high-quality homes and both of those homes fit those categories,” he said.
Wall said confidence in the top end of the market was due to people seeing now as a good time to buy and sell property. “Demand seems higher this year than in recent history for houses in that $15m-plus price bracket.”
The company had sold four properties above $20m this year, and three of them had been to local buyers.
A five-bedroom trophy home on Pahoia Road, in Whakamarama, was scooped up after several years on the market. Photo / Supplied
The only Western Bay of Plenty property on the list was a five-bedroom estate featuring luxury amenities that was sold to a Kiwi family for a record-breaking price in October.
Trueman & Co director Brent Trueman said it was the company’s second record sale this year.
While Trueman did not disclose the exact sale price, OneRoof can reveal the property sold for $17.5m.
“The home itself is absolutely stunning. When you’re at this property, there is no way you would think you were less than 20 minutes from one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. It’s a magical place to be,” Trueman said.
Trueman said the property combined quality design with spectacular location. “You just can’t get better than that.”
While interest in luxury property appeared to be growing, so was the first-home buyer market, he said. “Last week, we had 26 groups through an open home in 30 minutes,” he said.
Lifestyle properties in the $1.5m-$3m price bracket were also proving popular, he said. “I’ve had the biggest run of sales in my 20 years of real estate in the last three months.”
A 900sqm mansion on Auckland’s Paritai Drive found new owners in May. Photo / Supplied
Speargrass Flat, near Queenstown, is home to numerous trophy estates, including one that sold for $18m in August. Photo / Getty Images
In Tasman's Golden Bay, a luxury lodge used as a backdrop for several reality TV shows sold for $20m, following a six-year hunt for a new owner.
Westhaven Retreat drew a lot of interest from overseas buyers, but it was snapped up by a New Zealand family, who will be using it as their permanent home.
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Karyn von Engelbrechten told OneRoof the new owners had been drawn to the private location and spectacular home. “It just worked out. They were really happy, and it was a pretty quick sale in the end,” she said.
Two trophy homes in Queenstown-Lakes were the South Island's top sales this year.
One, a luxury home on the shores of Queenstown’s Lake Wakatipu, was quietly sold for nearly $19 million in October. Agents have been tight-lipped about the sale of the six-bedroom property on Nathanael Place, in the gated Homestead Bay Peaks estate, in Drift Bay, but OneRoof understands that the 665sqm house was designed by top architects Sumich Chaplin, and that the vendor paid $3m in 2018 for the 1.54ha section it sits on.
The second was an estate in Lake Hayes, which sold for $18m in August. Details are scarce, but OneRoof records show that the property was built in 2019, sold in 2020 for $9.3m, and had consents issued in 2021, including one for a swimming pool.
Rounding out the list is an Auckland mansion in Orakei that had been extensively upgraded by its owners and sold for $18m.
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty listing agent Paul Sissons said the buyers had fallen in love with it and decided to snap it up within the space of two weeks.
Buyers searching for high-end properties were “pretty decisive”, he told OneRoof “They know what they want and when they find it, they don’t tend to muck around.”
It was also a “very specific” market with an exclusive number of buyers with $20m or above to spend.
Sissons said he had four properties between $20m-$30m that were sitting off market.
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