– A coastal property in Torbay sold for $10.2m to expat buyers.
– The 1970s home boasts 270-degree sea views and sits on a peninsula.
– Torbay homes are cheaper than other bays, with strong demand for properties with gardens.
A sprawling coastal property on Auckland’s North Shore has sold for $10.2 million, OneRoof can reveal.
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Nico Zhang brokered the off-market deal in May, telling OneRoof that the 1970s home on Rock Isle Road, in Torbay, was snapped up by expats who had been on the hunt for something special in the suburb.
Zhang knew the vendors, who were now living overseas, and started negotiations, which lasted just over a month.
“The buyers knew the area, they’d grown up here and wanted to come back to the same place. I believe their parents are in the area,” she told OneRoof.
Records show that the property had last sold in 2014 for $8m. The RV is $8.75m.
Photos of the property when it was last sold in 2014 for $8m show striking gardens. Photo / Supplied
The house was designed in 1970s and replaced an earlier Vernon Brown-designed bach on the peninsula. Photo / Supplied
“This is a very special place. The gardens used to be very nice. They were designed by a very well-known designer, and the house was architect-designed in the 1970s. The vendors were very proud of it,” Zhang said.
“It’s very private. It’s on a peninsula so has 270-degree views of the sea. You can’t see the house at all [from the road]. It’s paradise in the city for a family.”
Zhang said the five-bedroom house, which is over 500sqm in size, sits on an 8890sqm section with single house zoning. “I don’t know whether it can be subdivided. You wouldn’t see anything else like this on the East Coast Bays,” she said.
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The property has strong connections to the North Shore’s famed literary community of the 1930s and 1940s. It was owned by writer Ian Hamilton, who, with his companion, Anna Kavan, hosted a bohemian circle of writers and pacifists, including Frank Sargeson.
Zhang’s $10.2m could soon be beaten by another listing with New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty. The four-bedroom mansion at 76 Cliff Road was designed by Fearon Hay Architects and is listed with agent Natalie Newton.
Shane Coote, owner of Ray White Mairangi Bay, which covers the upper North Shore, said that homes in Torbay were still cheaper than other parts of the bays, and that buyers could get a good family home for around $1.5m.
A luxury Fearon Hay-designed mansion on 76 Cliff Road, Torbay, is on the market. It has an RV of $9.125m. Photo / Supplied
A five-bedroom solid masonry house on 47 Rock Isle Road is looking for offers over $2.35m. Photo / Supplied
While 1960s or 1970s era homes tended to attract traders and investors, unrenovated homes built in the last 20 to 30 years were harder to shift.
“There is a lot of stock at the moment, but it’s not the right stock.”
Ray White agent Thérèse Leslie said people liked that Torbay, especially the part known as Olde Torbay, was largely untouched by high-density development.
“A lot of people come up to look at brand new houses at Long Bay and then they realise that even though it’s lovely, they want a bit of garden or backyard, and they end up buying in Torbay.”
Leslie said the right homes sold fast, pointing to a modern four-bedroom house on Waiau Street, which recently sold for over $1.7m after just three weeks on the market.
“That’s $380,000 over CV. We had over 100 inspections, four bidders, that’s 2021 numbers. It did not have a sea view, but it was just done beautifully. People fell in love.”
Leslie and colleague Jiang Kou currently have a five-bedroom house on 47 Rock Isle Road, looking for over $2.35m. They bill the solid masonry home, built in the 2000s, as the perfect location and affordable coastal living.
A stylishly updated 1970s three-bedroom house at 66A Cliff Road with an RV of $3m is for sale by negotiation with Bayleys agents Ailsa McArthur, Cindy Leong and Tara Menzies.
And a smart five-bedroom stone-trimmed 1990s house at 71A Cliff Road, marketed by Barfoot & Thompson’s Lika DeVito, has a $1.599m price tag.