Million-dollar homes common as brass

By BERNARD ORSMAN and WAYNE THOMPSON

The New Zealander who paid $8.3 million for a beachfront Takapuna house is not an isolated figure in the market for top-dollar homes.

The Herald revealed that David Hughes, a former senior director with Cisco Systems, paid what is believed to be the highest price for a house in New Zealand.

Mr Hughes, who grew up on the North Shore and went to Westlake Boys' High School, has just left his position as a senior director with Cisco, the internet networking giant named at one stage last year as the world's most valuable company.

It has 38,000 workers throughout the world and in the past year had sales of close to $50 billion.

Now aged 32, he graduated from Auckland University as an electrical engineer. He completed a PhD in Australia and has worked in Japan.

Mr Hughes moved to the United States about 10 years ago and left Cisco within the last few months to join a start-up venture in Silicon Valley.

Mr Hughes and his wife are expected to visit New Zealand within a few weeks.

Real estate agents say the top end of the property market is booming and Mr Hughes' record could soon be overtaken with the sale of the Victoria Ave, Remuera mansion of New Zealand's richest man, Douglas Myers. The house is tipped to be the first property in New Zealand to sell for $10 million.

The low New Zealand dollar attracting expats home and overseas buyers, a shortage of premium property, a belief that the market has bottomed out and the high standard of construction in many newer homes are being cited as reasons for renewed confidence in prime properties.

Bayleys' Geoffrey McRae, who is handling the Myers sale, would only say the house was expected to sell for more than its Government valuation of $7 million. Other agents said it could exceed $10 million.

David Rainbow, also of Bayleys and one of the Auckland's top residential agents, said he sold his first $1 million house in Paritai Drive 14 years ago. Last year, 115 homes in the eastern suburbs sold for more than $1 million.

Mr Rainbow's personal tally of 25 million-plus sales include 11 at more than $2 million and one, in Arney Rd, Remuera, for $6.75 million.

Barfoot & Thompson also had a dream run of $1 million-plus houses last year. One of their top agents, Leila MacDonald, sold $50 million worth of properties over nine months, including a $5 million house in St Heliers Bay Rd and another, for $3.1 million, in Westbourne Rd, Remuera.

Brian Guy, of Premium Real Estate in Takapuna, who sold the $8.3 million home to Mr Hughes, said it was one of only a handful of big homes with large beachfront sections that could fetch up to $10 million.

Homes on Takapuna and Milford beaches started at $2 million, he said. Last year, he sold eight $2 million-plus North Shore coastal properties.

Across the water on Waiheke Island, Chris Palmer, of Premium Real Estate, said he had recently sold a home on Oneroa Point for $3 million to an Englishman who has had a holiday house on the island for 10 years.

But the cliff side of Paritai Drive in Orakei reigns supreme as the top address in Auckland. There, a row of about 30 houses start at $3 million.

A house and two neighbouring sections are on the market as a package for $8 million to anyone who wants just over half a hectare of the most valuable real estate in New Zealand.

Auckland house sales may be on the up at the top end, but the city is still a long way behind Sydney, where the top 100 property sales last year started at $A3.2 million ($3.9 million) and the top sale, an Italianate six-bedroom mansion in Point Piper, was $A12.36 million.

The Weekend Herald yesterday visited two homes for sale at $8 million and $3 million to see what Auckland has to offer.

The $8 million home is a clifftop property at 11 Clifton Rd in Takapuna with stunning views of Rangitoto Island. The half-hectare section has mature pohutukawa trees, fabulous lawns and gardens.

The modern two-storey, 1000 sq m house has been extensively renovated in the past five years and features five bedrooms, each with a walk-in wardrobe and ensuite bathroom, lounge, family and separate television room, billiard room and indoor heated swimming pool.

The owners are a Dutch businessman and his family who moved to New Zealand 11 years ago for the lifestyle, and who are trading down now their children have left home and they can travel more.

The $3 million home, down a right-of-way at 21a Orakei Rd in Remuera, is only seven years old, but the present owner, a 37-year-old with his own processing and manufacturing business, has spared no expense in a meticulous makeover.

Luxurious indoor spaces open to a swimming pool and tennis court.

The house has four bedrooms - including a sumptuous master bedroom with its own marble fireplace - a solid timber kitchen with two fridges and two dishwashers, marble bathrooms and a gymnasium.

The owner, who did not want to be named, said at $3 million he would not make any money on the house, but he was selling to build a new home at Eastern Beach, Howick, to bring up his young family near the beach.