- A luxury lodge on Waiheke Island is for sale for $17.5m, matching its 2020 purchase price.
- Agent Lisa Hopewell noted strong interest from expat Kiwis and foreign buyers seeking privacy and amenities.
- The property features a helipad, jetty, golf driving range, and can accommodate up to 20 people.
A luxury lodge on Auckland’s Waiheke Island is being pitched at international buyers just three years after it sold for $17.5 million.
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New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Lisa Hopewell told OneRoof that her vendors were looking to match what they paid for the seven-bedroom Omaru Bay Lodge.
“We are sitting at the pinnacle of New Zealand real estate. It has got the jetty, it has got the helipad, it is riparian,” she said of 729 Orapiu Road, on Waiheke’s exclusive southeast corner.
Foreign buyers are drawn to the privacy of the 5ha estate on Omaru Bay, on Waiheke’s southern end, and the helicopter access. Photo / Supplied
The seven-bedroom home was completely rebuilt by the previous owners to architect Sumich Chaplin’s design. Photo / Supplied
“I expect the value will be upheld for a property of this calibre. I am not saying [the [$17.5m purchase price] will be beaten; that was not [the owners’] intention. This is not a profit-making exercise in any way.”
Her vendors had spent “many happy times” at the stylish lodge, but their family priorities had changed, and they were spending more time at their Queenstown property.
“It is time to pass it on to someone who can enjoy it. It should be used,” Hopewell told OneRoof.
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Hopewell said there had been good interest from overseas, both from expat Kiwis and foreign buyers. “These are very high net worth individuals and families,” she said.
The agent said foreign buyers with the Government's "golden" investor visa would not be able to purchase the property unless they had approval from the Overseas Investment Office or possessed New Zealand residency.
“Some of the foreign buyers put their plans into action two years ago; they were already on a residential pathway,” she said, adding that she currently had buyers for two other properties on the island navigating through the Overseas Investment Office process.
“There is active interest in coastal Waiheke property with this degree of privacy.
The property has its own jetty, drive-on access to the beach, as well as a driving range, pool, spa and sauna. Photo / Supplied
The secluded estate has views across Omaru Bay. Photo / Supplied
“People are seeking out New Zealand, and within New Zealand, seeking out Waiheke and Queenstown. That private helipad is very important to a lot of these buyers because they want that extreme privacy, but they also want that quick connection to Auckland Airport.”
Hopewell said the house was stunning and noted that the property included a golf driving range, drive-on access to the beach, room to sleep up to 20 people and an experienced property manager. The property’s RV is $13.25m.
At the time the Orapiu Road lodge went on the market in 2022, the previous owners told OneRoof that they had bought the house in early 2008 after viewing it on the way to the airport to fly home to London.
“We made an offer as we left New Zealand, and by the time we landed in London, it was ours,” they told OneRoof.
The then owners commissioned top architects Sumich Chaplin to completely rebuild the house and pool, pushing the architects and builders Argon Construction to complete the exercise in less than a year, while they managed the project long-distance from London.
“The moment we saw the home in the flesh for the first time was incredible. I knew it would be beautiful, but I had had no idea it was going to be as beautiful as it is.”
Hopewell is selling two other luxury waterfront properties on the island, a six-bedroom lodge at 345 Gordons Road in Woodside Bay and a 1.77ha section in the exclusive gated Matiatia Estate on 155 Delamore Drive.
The Gordons Road home, asking $9m, with access to its own beach and a helipad is pitched to international buyers for its privacy and fast connection to the airport.
The section on Delamore Drive, with an RV of $5.05m, is being marketed only to Hopewell’s international Sotheby’s clients as it is one of the last remaining sites in the estate. Hopewell said in her advertising that she believed the property could meet the threshold for foreign buyers under the Active Investor Plus visa.
Caleb Paterson, of Paterson Luxury Limited, is also pitching a Victorian villa on a 4.9ha waterfront site at 40 Rothschild Terrace to international buyers, telling OneRoof in November that he had already had interest from Hollywood stars. Ignoring its RV of $6.4m, he expects it to fetch a record price when it sells.
A four-bedroom concrete Mediterranean-style house is being marketed by Sotheby’s agents Chris Jones and Francine Sweet asking $8.995m. The house on a 1.5m section at 155 Nick Johnstone Drive on the Matiatia coastline is described by the agents as suiting a “new iteration” to French or Puglia-style, and comes with a pool, boutique olive grove, greenhouse and orchard.
Sotheby’s Pene Milne has a stylish Glamuzina-designed house at 89 Nick Johnstone Drive, Oneroa which comes with a three-bedroom main house, two guest cottages, a pool and spa. It has an RV of $12.5m and is for sale by negotiation. Closer to Oneroa and the ferry terminal, Milne has a 4.45ha waterfront property with an older house at 54 Korora Road that is looking for buyers with over $12m to spend.
- 729 Orapiu Road, on Waiheke Island, Auckland, is for sale by negotiation
