Major progress in three-party talks! Sale above NZ$40,000,000: New Zealand's luxury housing market defies headwinds to set a house price record!

With National confirming that all parties have formally agreed to a joint policy programme, negotiations will now focus primarily on allocating ministerial portfolios among the three parties. The only two confirmed roles are National leader Christopher Luxon as prime minister and National deputy leader Nicola Willis as finance minister.

ACT leader David Seymour acknowledged that he wanted to be deputy prime minister, saying there was an “obvious case” for him to take the role: “I think one thing is very clear: ACT is the second-largest party in the government, so if there is a second-highest position in the government, it should go to the second-largest party. Having said that, negotiations are negotiations, and you never know your luck.”

Analysts believe that giving the deputy prime minister role to either the New Zealand First or ACT leader would leave the other unhappy. Another option would be to appoint National deputy leader Nicola Willis as deputy prime minister and compensate ACT and New Zealand First with other portfolios.

Winston Peters reportedly wants the justice minister and attorney-general roles. The latter has oversight of the Serious Fraud Office and the power to appoint and remove judges. A few years ago, Peters' New Zealand First party was investigated by the Serious Fraud Office over an alleged donations scandal, and an appeal in one of the cases is still before the courts. National may therefore find it difficult to give him this role.

 

2023 has been a subdued year for New Zealand's property market overall. Although the shadow of recession has weakened some buyers' purchasing power, it has not held back the luxury housing market's overall performance: this year is still set to be a record year for luxury property transactions.

While the lower and middle tiers of the property market are still struggling, a Queenstown property transaction has set a new New Zealand house price record. An estate spanning 15 hectares in the highly sought-after holiday destination has sold for more than NZ$40,000,000. Although the transaction has yet to settle, it is enough to break the NZ$38,500,000 sale record set a decade ago by the mansion financier Mark Hotchin built in Auckland's Orakei.

In May 2023, a modern glass-and-steel luxury home on Burwood Crescent in Auckland's Remuera sold for NZ$20,600,000

In New Zealand's property market, a home worth more than NZ$10,000,000 can be defined as a luxury property. Valocity senior research analyst Wayne Shum said their data showed that sales of homes above NZ$10,000,000 had declined in the years following the pandemic compared with before it. In the 12 months to August this year, there were 22 transactions, compared with 37 in the corresponding period last year and 29 in 2021. Shum believed that although prospective buyers in this price bracket were less troubled by credit conditions and high living costs than other property buyers, increased borrowing costs had still affected their purchasing power.

However, Johnathan Sissons of Sotheby's International Realty disagreed, believing buyers of these high-end properties generally had ample funds and were not concerned about rising interest rates or tighter credit rules. In September, his team sold a luxury home on Ronaki Road in Mission Bay for NZ$11,500,000. The five-bedroom, three-storey home rented for NZ$5000 a week. He said that while the NZ$4,000,000–7,000,000 property market had remained relatively quiet, the luxury market above NZ$10,000,000 was very active.

Karen Moore of New Zealand Sotheby's International Realty sold this modern home on Ronaki Road in Auckland's Mission Bay for NZ$11,500,000

In June, Paul Sissons of New Zealand Sotheby's International Realty arranged the auction of boatshed number 15 on Ngapipi Road in Auckland's Orakei. It fetched NZ$2,050,000, more than the sale price of most houses

He also pointed to the Orakei boatshed sold by his company as clear evidence of the current luxury market's health. Boatshed number 15 not only fetched the high price of NZ$2,050,000, but also attracted intense competition at auction.

 

The number of luxury properties available for sale this year has been very limited. However, Sissons and other agents said that once National took office and lifted the foreign buyer ban, sellers in the NZ$10,000,000 to NZ$20,000,000 bracket would certainly become eager to act and begin discussing sales with agents. These owners might no longer need large homes, with so much to maintain, including gardens, tennis courts and swimming pools.

Hamish Walker of Walker and Co Realty sold a luxury Queenstown estate for more than NZ$40,000,000 earlier this year, breaking New Zealand's property auction price record

Walker & Co director Hamish Walker, who broke Queenstown's property sales record, said luxury property sales volumes in Queenstown had indeed slowed this year compared with before the pandemic, but the market had picked up in August. He believed this was linked to auction clearance rates in Auckland and eastern Australia exceeding 60%, compared with just 10% or 15% a year earlier. Walker said Queenstown attracted many buyers from Auckland, Sydney and Melbourne, who used their own markets as a reference when assessing property markets elsewhere. The market continued recovering in September, with many properties that had sat unsold for some time going under contract. This also applied to the luxury market, with more enquiries and transactions across the market. He emphasised that demand for Queenstown property had always been high because of its beautiful scenery, while the surrounding mountains severely limited land supply.

This luxury Queenstown estate on Hidden Island Road in Jacks Point sold for NZ$19,200,000 in a private transaction in April this year

In January this year, Colliers' Craig Myles sold this luxury home on Mount Barker Road in Wanaka, in the Queenstown Lakes district, for NZ$10,000,000

An award-winning home on Buchanan Rise sold in June for NZ$16,000,000, setting a record for the town

 

{ad}Walker also said that many properties were taking slightly longer to sell after listing this year, but the high-end luxury market was insulated from other markets. He predicted that if the foreign buyer ban were successfully lifted, it would certainly boost sales of properties above NZ$40,000,000 in the coming months. Although this would not mean large numbers of buyers from China and the United States would quickly snap up every property, their arrival would bring greater confidence to the current luxury market by expanding the pool of buyers.

 

Article sourced from the internet