– The French-style lodge created by Chloe Wright has been withdrawn from sale.
– Wright co-founded BestStart and the Wright Family Foundation, supporting various charitable causes.
– Luxury property agents emphasise patience and visibility for high-end homes in the Bay of Plenty.
The French-style country lodge created by the late multimillionaire philanthropist Chloe Wright has been withdrawn from sale.
The five-bedroom property, surrounded by European-style gardens, had been put on the market in May last year following Wright’s death in September 2023.
The nearly 600sqm house sat on a 3000sqm site in Whakamarama, about 20 minutes out of Tauranga city centre, had an RV of $3.28 million and was for sale by negotiation.
It was pulled from the market at the end of last month. OneRoof reached out to the listing agent for comment but had not heard back at the time of publication.
Wright and her husband Wayne co-founded the childcare provider BestStart and the Wright Family Foundation. Her philanthropic work included funding for Plunket, Perinatal Depression, Anxiety Aotearoa, and The Parenting Place.
Chloe Wright co-founded BestStart childcare and was known for her philanthropy. Her family trust also funded the controversial median company The Platform. Photo / NZME
Wright created the house as her forever home but later turned it into a boutique hotel. Photo / Supplied
Until March this year, the Wright Family Trust had also provided funding to The Platform, the radio and media venture fronted by controversial broadcaster Sean Plunket.
Wright’s son, Wayne Wright Jr, told the New Zealand Herald’s media Insider last week that he had purchased the trust’s shares in The Platform and, through related parties, now owned a 75% share of the media company.
The French Country House, as it was known, was inspired by Wright’s travels in England and France. It took two and a half years to build with the help of local architectural designers Lochhead Designs and Allan Shaw, of Atrium Homes. The brick and plaster walls and shingled roof were carefully aged to create the look Wright was after, and featured materials that were hundreds of years old.
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“It looks like it’s 300 or 400 years old, but it was only built in 2008,” Ray White listing agent Simon Cotter told OneRoof when the property first hit the market in May last year.
The Wrights had lived in the sprawling house for several years before turning it into luxury accommodation.
The property isn’t the only high-profile home to have been pulled from the market in recent months. In May, fashion designer Dame Trelise Cooper pulled her $10m apartment from sale after a year on the market, and just last week, the mansion that had a starring role in The Bachelor NZ hit pause on its campaign to find a buyer.
Dame Trelise Cooper had been looking for a buyer for her penthouse apartment at the Sonata, in Auckland’s St Heliers Bay, but has decided to pause her search. Photo / Supplied
Also withdrawn from sale is the six-bedroom house on Pukapuka Road, in Auckland’s Mahurangi West, which starred in The Bachelor NZ. Photo / Supplied
Agents in the Bay of Plenty told OneRoof that prestige homes in the region were a “completely different animal” from the rest of the market.
Oliver Road agent Jason Eves, who is marketing a pair of luxury estates with asking prices of just over $15m, said the upper end of the market was not as affected by supply and demand pressures, adding that measures like days on market were barely relevant.
Some high-value homes he had sold before he had a chance to take them to market, while others, like the large lifestyle property on River Oaks Drive, in Tauriko, he sold in May for a record price, took longer to secure a buyer.
He said international buyers were adding the region to their consideration list, so keeping a property visible to buyers was key. “Patience is the solution for being unsold, not withdrawal from the market,” he said.
His top listings, Focal Point, in the Pahoia Peninsula, and SkyView, in the Oropi Hills, have asking prices of $15.5m and $15.25m, respectively.
SkyView, on Nga Parae Road, in Oropi, has been on the market for over a year, and is looking for $15.25m. Photo / Supplied
Focal Point, on Pahoia Peninsula, has an asking price of $15.5m. It has been for sale since November 2023. Photo / Supplied
The top asking price in the area is $18.5m, for a striking five-bedroom trophy home at 340H Pahoia Road, in Whakamarama, designed by Warren & Mahoney. The property has been on the market since 2023, most recently with Ray White listing agent Ross Hawkins.
Hawkins agreed that listings at the top end benefitted from remaining visible, noting that there was a steady flow of new buyers to the luxury market.
“There are quite a lot of people looking from offshore, and we get several calls a month from people [for 340H Pahoia Road]. That’s a lot more than some other mid-level properties,” he told OneRoof.
“Even if it has been a year or more, it is worth keeping on the market. People’s situations change. Someone might sell a business and need a trophy property; they might be expats coming back to New Zealand.
Looking for $18.5m is a five-bedroom trophy home at 340H Pahoia Road, in Whakamarama, designed by Warren & Mahoney. Photo / Supplied
The luxury lifestyle estate at 526 Lund Road, in Western Bay of Plenty, has an asking price of $5.55m. Photo / Supplied
“If you’re not in front of people, you’re not going to get the opportunity. You’ve got to have your fishing line in the water.”
Another high-profile lifestyle block in the region that’s still looking for a buyer is 526 Lund Road, in Aongatete. The four-bedroom luxury home with a bunker and steel gates is back on the market with a new agent and a new price.
The owner, an American farmer and minister, first listed the property in February 2023, targeting international buyers who wanted to “live in luxury and be prepared for any crisis”.
The property was relaunched in March this year with Bayleys agent Anton Terblanche and is looking for $5.55m.
– Click here to find more properties for sale in Bay of Plenty