Property magnates' luxury yacht for sale - but only multi-millionaires need inquire
Tuesday, 16 January 2024
The owners of townhouse Goliath Williams Corporation are trying to sell their luxury yacht for almost $6 million.
The opulent 26.5m vessel, which is complete with a teak-panelled main deck saloon with a marble-topped wet bar, four cabins with private bathrooms, and a VIP suite, was listed on Trade Me a month ago.
It’s owned by M/Y WW Charters Ltd, whose directors, Blair Chappell and Matthew Horncastle, co-founded housing developer Williams Corporation.
The pair set up the charter business in December and charge $10,000 per day to hire the yacht.
When asked what had prompted the sale, Horncastle said: “I have gone through the chapter of my life of owning a boat.
“Assets of this nature are more practical for me to rent due to the amount of days I actually use it.”
The yacht has two 1800 horsepower engines and is crewed by four staff. It can accommodate eight guests overnight and up to 45 guests on day trips.
“This yacht is not just a vessel; it's an experience crafted for those who seek the extraordinary,” the listing says.
It’s the latest in a series of plush items Horncastle has attempted to offload.
In March last year, he put up for sale a 2019 black McLaren, a white Rolls-Royce and G3 Mercedes worth in total about $1m because they were “surplus to requirements”.
A week later, he put his three-storey luxurious central Christchurch home up for sale. It sold in May for $2.225m.
At the time, he said he was upgrading to a larger house he was going to build, worth between $5m-6m in a wealthy Christchurch suburb. Horncastle said the three-storey house would have an indoor swimming pool.
Chappell also owned a second freestanding house that was going up on the same property.
The land was initially earmarked for a Williams Corporation development of 11 townhouses, but that plan was dropped.
In an Instagram post last November, Horncastle referred to tough property market conditions his company, which builds homes in Christchurch, Auckland, Tauranga and Wellington, was facing.
“Trading property in a declining market forced me to get real with myself… Sometimes you need to accept market conditions change markets.”
Williams Corporation was planning a move into Australia and had set up three offices there, but pulled out in November because the timing “wasn’t quite right”, Horncastle said at the time.
“But we will definitely revisit our Australia position again in the future.”
In another post, he said Williams Corporation “didn’t quite hit” the $1 billion milestone in property in 2023 “but we have achieved $200 million”.
“We have built over 1800 houses and delivered over a billion dollars of real estate. We continue to battle adversity and push our name out there in the market.”
Despite the dip, Horncastle was optimistic when approached by Stuff on Monday and excited about this year’s prospects, saying the market was getting better every day.
“We are currently buying land for new projects,” he said.