Auckland apartment sales market so dire that new 77-unit block to be rented

“These apartments will be individually rented,” he said, describing plans to unload units individually on to the market.

Ockham Residential and five-iwi collective Marutūāhu have developed the red Whetū apartment block at Pt Chevalier in Auckland. This is on former Unitec land. Photo / Ockham

New units will go from $500/week for a studio to $700/week for a two-bedroom place, he said.

“People will be able to move in over the coming weeks.”

Ockham Residential and five-iwi collective Marutūāhu collective have developed the red Whetū apartment block and the green Toi at Pt Chevalier in Auckland. This is on former Unitec land. Photo / Ockham

Asked when Whetū would be opened, he said Thursday’s event for about 100 people in the common residents’ area of Toi was “for both buildings”.

Both buildings have been built by the Marutūāhu-Ockham Partnership.

No separate opening for the larger Whetū was planned, he said.

Housing Minister Chris Bishop opened Toi on Thursday with Mayor Wayne Brown.

Frank Xu (Shundi), Gavin Lloyd (Bayleys), Tamba Carleton (CBRE) and Jillie Clarke (Shundi) on September 3 at an event to market Seascape apartments in Auckland. Photo / Mala Photography

CBRE’s Tamba Carleton was at Thursday’s opening. She has found Auckland’s apartment market sluggish but the build-to-rent sector busy.

Few projects are planned and many have been shelved.

The opening of the new Ockham-Marutūāhu building Toi, in Point Chevalier. L-R Chair of Marutūāhu Paul Majurey, Mayor Wayne Brown, Housing Minister Chris Bishop, Ockham Residential CEO William Deihl. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

“Most of the abandonment[s] that have occurred in the past quarter are social housing projects that have experienced significant deferrals,” Carleton found of this year’s first quarter.

The size of the forward-work pipeline had shrunk by 15 projects lately.

The 46-unit finished Loxley Apartments, 32-34 Tennyson Ave, Takapuna went up for mortgagee sale on June 6, 2025. Photo / Colliers

In June, the Herald reported on the entire 46-unit Loxley Apartments in Takapuna up for mortgagee sale. The five-level block is at 32-34 Tennyson Ave.

The apartments have never been lived in but are owned by Tennyson GCO, which went into liquidation in April.

The 46-unit Loxley Apartments on 32-26 Tennyson Avenue, in Auckland’s Takapuna, has been as a build to rent investment. Photo / Supplied

The title shows WFT Finance as holding a mortgage over the property, along with a list of other financiers.

Wayne Wright, co-founder and trustee of prominent charity the Wright Family Foundation in Tauranga, is listed by the Companies Office as WFT Finance’s sole director.

Plans for the interior of a Loxley unit. Despite attempts to sell in June, the block is still on the market.

The family is assessed as being worth $400 million by the National Business Review, with the majority of their wealth derived from the sale of childcare operator Best Start.

The Loxley apartments remain unsold.

Auckland’s abandoned Seascape tower viewed from floor 34 PWC tower.
Photo / Michael Craig

Gavin Lloyd of Bayleys is heading a new campaign for sales in the $300m unfinished Seascape apartments in the CBD.

Jillie Clarke, Shundi’s director of sales and marketing, said 55 units were unsold on levels eight to 20 and levels 41 to 45.

At the September 3 event to market Auckland tower Seascape (left to right): Oscar McGeorge with Krishna Botica and Tony McGeorge. Photo / Mala Photography

Clarke said Seascape units for sale are:

Studios from $880,000;One-bedroom and study from $1.6m;Two and three bedrooms from $2.5m+;Sub penthouses with three and four bedrooms from $9.4m.

Some in the sector estimate it could cost $300m to finish Seascape and take three years.

Others hope it will only be about $180m and done in 18 months.

Dizzying heights at Seascape. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

But how much needs fixing before work resumes remains a concern to contractors.

Icon is yet to sign the contract to finish the tower.

Extensive remediation of parts of that building will be needed, sources said.

Intumescent coating meant to protect steel was damaged by the building being exposed to the weather for more than a year since construction crews left when head contractor, China Construction, ordered tradies off, a source said.

Inside the Seascape apartment tower, via a report of February 26. Photo / report from Leader Scaffolding to Auckland Council

But Harrison Shao, Shundi Customs’ general manager, said last month the structural integrity of New Zealand’s tallest, unfinished apartment tower has been confirmed.

A survey assessed the strength of the 56-level, 221-unit skyscraper.

The 21 Auckland apartment projects by Ockham are:

The Ockham Building, 25 units, Kingsland;The Wamaka Buildings, Wilkinson Rd, 18 units, Ellerslie;The Isaac, 75 units, Grey Lynn;The Turing, 27 units, Grey Lynn;Station R, 37 units, Mt Eden;Hypatia, 61 units, Newmarket;Daisy, 33 units, Mt Eden;Bernoulli Gardens, 120 units, Hobsonville;Set Buildings, 72 units, Avondale;Tuatahi, 119 unit, Mt Albert;Modal, 32 units, Mt Albert;Kōkihi, 95 units, Waterview;The Nix, 32 units, Grey Lynn;Koa Flats, 14 units, Meadowbank;Aroha, 117 units, Avondale;Aalto, 39 units, Morningside;Manaaki, 210 units, Onehunga;The Greenhouse, 93 units, Ponsonby;Kōanga, 37 units, Waterview;Toi, 65 units, Pt Chevalier;Whetū, 77 units, Pt Chevalier.

Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.