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OneRoof.co.nz
THE PROPERTY RICH LIST | LUXURY PURSUITS
Where the grass is greener High-end properties next to top-of-the-range golf courses are highly prized, writes CATHERINE SMITH
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or an increasing number of wealthy Kiwis, the Clubhouse, which was carefully sited by course designer perfect home has a luxury finish, a great view Tom Doak, who calls it “the nicest place to hang out in all and 18 holes. Access to an exclusive golf club is of golf, whether you play golf or not”. an important factor for buyers who prefer their Rohrstaff laughs at the local legend that most golfers downtime to be spent on the fairway. Even for those who helicopter in for their game (only a small percentage do aren’t on the driving range seven days a week, the idea that, he says), adding that the surrounding Mangawhai of buying a holiday or retirement home close to a top community has benefited from the development. course, most of which are to be found in the most scenic “We employ a lot of people, and they all need homes,” corners of the country, is compelling. Indeed, some want he says. “This is such a good spot and what we’re doing to live right on the course. is not high density, so there’s not a big impact. It’s a great The “golf home” trend kicked off in New Zealand in the environment.” 1990s when the Japanese Ishii family created Millbrook, Greg Hunt is familiar with the trajectory of luxury golf on the edge of Queenstown. The five-star development resorts since he returned to New Zealand from America offered Kiwis the chance to build or buy a home within in 1993 to head design and development at Millbrook resort grounds. Since opening, Millbrook has grown in Resort, 20 minutes out of Queenstown, where the first size and reputation; it is home to more than 100 residents property had started selling a few years earlier. and properties can sell for more than $5 million. Hunt is now chief executive of a luxury resort and nineMillbrook’s price and quality points were raised hole golf course being built at Gibbston Valley, another 15 when Ric Kayne and Jim Rohrstaff developed Tara Iti minutes away. “Millbrook set the benchmark, it was one golf course. The nearly 1400ha estate spans an 11km of of the triggers for what happened here [Queenstown and coastline just south of Mangawhai, in Northland, and Central Lakes] as a destination,” he says. was modelled on California’s famous Pebble Beach He quotes the rule of thumb for golfing destinations, 17-Mile Drive, which spans eight golf courses, seven of that for critical mass an area needs at least five golf courses them PGA or championship courses. so that holidaymakers can play a new course every day. Tara Iti was decades in the making before the course In Queenstown, that means Millbrook, The Hills opened in 2015 and it will be joined in October this year (jeweller Michael Hills’ course next to Millbrook), Jacks by the first of two public courses on its southern boundary Point, the Kelvin Heights Queenstown course on a at Te Arai – be"er known picturesque peninsula on for the best surf on the lake and Arrowtown, a Auckland’s east coast, li"le rural gem that makes with a second course the New Zealand Top 100 opening October 2023. courses list. The flagship private But Hunt is clear that since club Tara Iti (ve"ed its conception in 2007 (the members only, capped GFC put plans on hold for at 300, with a rumoured a bit), Gibbston Valley golf joining fee of around will be just one component $400,000) debuted at of a raft of lifestyle amenities No. 6 on Golf Digest’s that include a working ranking of the World’s winery, scenic vineyards, 100 Greatest Golf cycle trails, spa, farmers Courses, the highest-ever market and restaurants. The debut. 400ha resort will have 100 Members’ accommodation at Tara Iti, in Northland. The club famously gives visitor accommodation units, PHOTO / MICHAEL CRAIG non-members a once-inopening August 2023, and a-lifetime chance to play. 150 gated residential units. They must stay at least one night, at a cost of thousands The whole resort will not be completed until 2028. of dollars, and cannot repeat the experience, unless they “A nine-hole golf course is for people who enjoy become a member. the good things in life – good wine, good food, good Famous golfers who’ve played at Tara Iti include living,” Hunt says. “We’re clear it’s not a golf course President Barack Obama, with former Prime Minister resort. Golf is just an amenity we have along with all John Key, but Rohrstaff declines to name who else plays sorts of other things. It’s a great golf course, but it’s not there (“we don’t get into the name-dropping thing”) your whole day.” nor who has bought the 125 exclusive sections for sale That good life positioning has clearly resonated around the course that were sold from 2014. with buyers. Within a day of going on the market in Agents estimate rich-listers paid between $3m and December 2020, the development sold its first release of $5m for lots ranging from 4000sqm to 4ha, some of properties, helped by high-profile buyers like Key and which are already sporting houses, the rest still under cricket coach Brendon McCullum. Hunt says 90% of construction. Again, he won’t name names, but Rohrstaff buyers were from Auckland, but he expects Australian says the owners are mostly New Zealanders. interest to pick up now the borders are opening. “We did have demand from overseas buyers, but demand stopped in October 2018 when they changed the Award-winning facilities overseas investment rules,” he says. New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty managing director Mark Harris says exclusive resorts like Tara Iti ‘Millbrook set the benchmark’ and Cape Kidnappers, in Hawke’s Bay, and Kauri Cliffs, The new Te Arai courses will have visitor accommodation in the Bay of Islands, have raised the bar. and restaurants – around 20 buildings all together – “The thing with Queenstown is that golfers love to have designed by architect John Irving. Award-winning access to more courses, and quite often you can play all architect Pip Cheshire was responsible for the Tara Iti winter, too,” he says. “A great day is 10 ski runs in the
morning, and a great game of golf in the afternoon.” And while a limited number of properties right on the golf course are available – Jack's Point The Reserve has 36 homes right on the fairways – home buyers are happy just to be within driving distance of the courses, Harris says. Facilities help create the right experience: The Hills clubhouse has won architecture awards, and has a much talked about sculpture collection do"ing the course; Millbrook has three world-class restaurants, but golfers also liked adding hiking the trails and riding bikes to their outdoorsy agenda. This year Ray White agent Ross Hawkins brokered a $25.75m deal for a luxury four-bedroom home being built in a gated community on Forest Line Rise that shares amenities with the Waimarino Lodge in Bob’s Cove. While the lodge property will have numerous luxury amenities, including an on-site gin distillery, Hawkins says buyers aren’t necessarily looking for houses on the course as long as there are good courses within driving distance. The swift off-market sale of the 125 properties around the exclusive Tara Iti golf course shows there is room for more. Houses on nearby gated community Tern Point have sold for upwards of $3m. “There is a definite value-add for homes that are part of a well-designed and thought-out golf course development. Looking over a stunning manicured fairway or green sets a property apart from just a home on a section,” Hawkins says, adding that buyers also look for other luxury amenities such as day spas, yoga rooms and gym facilities and on-site chefs. "These facilities set a community apart and give that point of difference from city-living environments.”
Lifting overall property values
Mark Macky, owner and manager of Bayleys franchise Macky Real Estate, which covers all of Northland and the northern-most fringes of Auckland, says Tara Iti has lifted overall property values in neighbouring towns and coastal villages. “It certainly had a flow-on effect on Mangawhai and Omaha. Fifteen years ago, Mangawhai was a quiet backwater. Even five years ago, top properties were $1m-plus, now they’re $3m. That’s from both capital appreciation and because now more special properties are being built,” he says. Macky says that post-Covid, many of his buyers have been specifically looking for properties close to the golf course, or at the boutique beaches of Langs Beach and Bream Bay. Even those who live in Omaha, further south, are keen to make the switch to Mangawhai. Bayleys agent John Greenwood says Gulf Harbour golf course has had a similar impact on property values in the Whangaparoa Peninsula. The course changed the dynamic of the area when it launched in 1996 with around 100 homes next to it. Today, these golf homes fetch upwards of $2m. “Originally they did set design rules for building, but that was too radical and failed. But the golf course has added value to the neighbourhood,” Greenwood says. Just out of Taupo, in the central North Island, are two world-class golf courses: the Wairakei Golf + Sanctuary, owned by businessman Gary Lane, and Kinloch, owned by another rich lister, John Sax. Wairakei was established by the Government-owned Tourist Hotel Corporation in 1970 and as New Zealand’s first internationally recognised golf course, was part of an early strategy to draw golf travellers (it kicked off again in 2013 when Tourism New Zealand began a concerted golf promotion programme).
