Phil Spencer on NZ’s Best Homes: I’m not here to show New Zealanders around New Zealand

We know him best from British TV’s Location, Location, Location and Love It or List It - now Phil Spencer is set to host NZ’s Best Homes with Phil Spencer, filmed right here in Aotearoa. Ahead of the show’s premiere, Spencer reveals what to expect and what Kiwis get right about building homes.

Phil Spencer doesn’t think of himself as an “architectural buff”.

“I’m not Kevin McCloud,” he says with a smile for his fellow Brit and host of Grand Designs. At the time, McCloud had just wrapped up the New Zealand leg of his speaking tour, Home Truths, dishing out anecdotes, advice and tips on home design to Kiwi audiences.

Spencer has arguably just as much experience with all things real estate, having hosted Location, Location, Location in the UK for 25 years and the British version of Love It or List It since 2015 alongside Kirstie Allsopp. However, the difference might be that he still sees himself as an amateur in the industry in the original sense of the word - he’s in it for the love of it.

That’s clear from the opening scenes of his brand-new series NZ’s Best Homes, filmed in New Zealand earlier this year and set to air on TVNZ1 and TVNZ+ from June 9.

Speaking to the NZ Herald amid a break in his summer filming schedule earlier this year, the TV host couldn’t be more excited to be in New Zealand.

“It’s a beautiful time to be away from England, it’s currently snowing,” he says. “And an equally beautiful time to be over here, with the sun shining and everyone in great spirits.

“I’m on kind of a working holiday. I love looking around homes, I love travelling, I love the outdoor life.”

It’s that love of the outdoors that first brought him to New Zealand as a teenager.

“When I was 19, I had three weeks travelling, and I hitchhiked around and loved it - particularly the South Island,” he shares.

“I’m a country boy and I’m an outdoor man - New Zealand does that very well.”

Do we do architecture just as well?

“The build quality out here is exceptional,” he enthuses, adding that each home he views on the show is “unique”.

“In England we have streets and streets that were all built at the same time, possibly by the same person. And they’ve been adapted over the last 1500 years, so I’m generalising. But in urban areas, what I’m sensing out here is it’s about lifestyle.

“They are built, designed, created, to enable a particular lifestyle, and that’s coming off in waves. We don’t really get that in England, I don’t think.”

With the caveat that he is “new to the place”, Spencer can’t believe “you can commute in [to the CBD] from Piha - I’ve done it”.

Phil Spencer takes in city builds and lakeside mansions on new show NZ's Best Homes. Photo / TVNZ

Aucklanders who go to battle with trains and buses each day might disagree, but his enthusiasm is a reminder of just how lucky we are in Aotearoa.

“To be able to live on the beach and commute and work in the cut and thrust of the city is extraordinary,” he adds. “There aren’t too many places in the world you can do that.”

That sense of awe follows him around as he travels the country to visit some of New Zealand’s most impressive homes and meets the architects behind them, taking in city builds, lakeside mansions and beachside baches.

“It’s really difficult to pick a favourite at this stage,” he explains. “I’ve seen seven homes, all very different, all stand out. But they’re trying to do different things, so it’s almost like you can’t compare them.

“And they’re built for different things. Some are built for entertaining, some are built for family. So they are almost impossible to compare, but they are all at the top of their game, and that has been really clear.”

Spencer wants it known that he’s not here to show us around our own backyard.

Phil Spencer says he's not here to show Kiwis around New Zealand. Photo / TVNZ

“I’m not here to show New Zealanders around New Zealand. I’m here to explore it and have my eyes opened. I’ve tried to be quite careful in the way I speak because I’m not showing you your own country,” he says.

However, the show is also screening in Australia and the UK - and he hopes to give his countrymen a glimpse of Aotearoa.

“I am the window, for want of a better word, on some of the world-class design and architecture that’s going on here.

“I really see it as a privilege to come over to New Zealand and have incredible houses and incredible architects open their doors and allow me in. It’s special, and I don’t take that lightly. That wouldn’t happen in other places. So I’m getting very privileged access to some very, very cool houses and people.

“I’m here to celebrate New Zealand and New Zealand lifestyle and attitude to their homes.”

While Kiwis will no doubt love to see their own landscapes and hometowns featured on screen, we don’t all live in architectural marvels. Spencer notes that from what he’s read, the “great Kiwi dream” of home ownership is slipping out of reach for many, adding that the same is true of his home country.

“The particular plot size, that was the dream. That’s how all the plots started because it enabled someone to have a family house, bit of a vege patch, a garden,” he muses.

These days, it’s harder than ever to buy a home in Auckland or in holiday hotspots such as Queenstown and Tauranga.

“A beautiful place with lots of lifestyle and beautiful houses and friendly people and nice weather, that’s gonna get popular,” Spencer points out. “That’s not a secret. And when something becomes popular, it becomes expensive, because it’s about supply and demand.”

His advice to first home buyers determined to overcome the odds?

“Start saving - and that’s one of the biggest challenges, saving for the deposit in a world where rents are rising, cost of living is rising. It’s becoming ever harder to save for a deposit, that’s the real challenge. But the earlier you start, the better.

“Dedicate time and effort into your planning and preparation. You need to be quite strategic about what you buy and where nowadays.”

He delves into that strategy on the show, with the aim of “getting under the skin of the owners on why they built what they did”, he says. “What they were trying to achieve, and did it match up - did they have any regrets?”

Those hopes, dreams, and human stories behind the places where we live are familiar features on his long-running TV shows, and part of the reason why we’re still watching them after 25 years. Since his visit to New Zealand, he’s been busy filming the 37th season of Location, Location, Location with Allsopp, which he jokes is “like going back to school”.

“People keep watching it, so we get to keep making it. You know, we love it. We love working together. We love the projects that we do.

“As much as we love making Location, we’ve made it for a long time, so it is really special to come out here and make something different.”

If he were on the hunt for his own dream location, where would he want to live?

“That’s a tough question when I haven’t got to Queenstown yet!” he laughs.

“I’ve got some beautiful activities lined up down there, horse riding and fishing, playing a bit of golf as well. So let me get down there, and I’ll let you know.”

NZ’s Best Homes with Phil Spencer will premiere on Sunday, June 9 at 7.30pm on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+

Bethany Reitsma is an Auckland-based journalist covering lifestyle and entertainment stories who joined the Herald in 2019. She specialises in telling Kiwis’ real-life stories, money-saving hacks and anything even remotely related to coffee.