Prime Minister Christopher Luxon lists mortgage-free Onehunga rental home for sale

• Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has listed investment property for sale, weeks after selling two other properties
• Marketing for brick-and-tile Onehunga home describes it as offering “excellent value” for buyers
• Christopher Luxon has come under fire for tax-free gains he made from two previous house sales

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is selling another of his mortgage-free rental properties – and he doesn’t want to talk about it.

The two-bedroom, freestanding, brick-and-tile Onehunga home was bought by Luxon in 2015 for $620,500 and listed yesterday. It is now worth an estimated $945,000, according to OneRoof.

It goes to auction on October 31.

Asked about the sale while in Laos today, Luxon told reporters the sale of properties he owned was part of his “personal affairs”.

“I’m not sure what that’s got to do with being Prime Minister.”

This home in Onehunga is currently owned by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon but was listed for sale yesterday.

The home is being marketed as combining a “compelling address and the potential for future growth” while offering “excellent value” for buyers.

“Please disregard the current CV,” the marketing says of the most recent $1.15 million capital valuation, which was done in 2021.

Yesterday’s listing comes after Luxon last month sold another two-bedroom home in the same 1980s Onehunga housing development for $930,000. He also sold his Wellington apartment last month for $975,000 – the sale is not yet settled – and moved into Premier House, the Prime Minister’s official residence.

As a result of both sales, Luxon made a combined $460,000 tax-free profit on the properties, which were last sold in 2015 and 2020, respectively.

Luxon, who along with predecessor Dame Jacinda Ardern ruled out introducing a capital gains tax, faced criticism over the tax-free windfall, and his benefiting from his Government’s changes to the bright-line test.

“Disregard the current CV”, says the marketing for the sale of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's Onehunga rental. The capital valuation of the home was last done in 2021 and is $1.15 million.

Because Luxon bought and sold the Wellington apartment within five years of purchase, and he bought it after the introduction of the five-year bright-line test, he would have been required to pay tax under that test at a rate of 39% – equating to a maximum tax of $70,200.

However, on coming into office, Luxon’s Government scrapped both of Labour’s extensions of the bright-line test for taxing investment property sales, shifting it back to two years as of July 1, 2024.

That meant Luxon avoided being caught by the five-year test by just over two months and saved himself up to $70,200. If he had sold the apartment in February, when he declared he would move into Premier House, he would likely have been required to pay the tax.

After last month’s two sales, Luxon now has five mortgage-free properties, comprising two Onehunga rentals, family homes in Remuera and Waiheke, and his Botany electorate office.

Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.