Luxury crunch: Queenstown runs low on $10m mansions

Saturday, 14 June 2025

Queenstown’s luxury housing market continues to be powered upwards by wealthy buyers, with homes expected to sell for $20 million or more this year.

Price rises in its $5m suburbs are outpacing the rest of New Zealand, and there is strong international interest despite the foreign buyer ban.

Matt Finngan, of Sotheby’s International Realty in Queenstown, said they cannot get enough $10m-plus homes to sell.

“That top end of the market is strong. We’ve had the strongest year ever. Our biggest issue is not having more of those ultra-valuable, high-calibre homes to satisfy demand.”

Finnigan said the Queenstown market “has continued to grow in price every month, every year”.

“In places like Auckland buyers try to bargain down from the CV (rating value), but in Queenstown, no chance.”

Queenstown has six suburbs where median values exceed $3m, including two $5m suburbs, Drift Bay and Speargrass Flat, according to analyst Cotality (previously CoreLogic).

Drift Bay’s median value has risen 5% in the past year to $5.46m, while Speargrass Flat has risen 3.8% to $5.36m. Next are Dalefield at $4.20m (up 4.3%), Arrow Junction $3.7m (up 4.4%), Gibbston $3.46m (up 0.4%), and Queenstown Hill $3.16m (up 3.08%).

Queenstown’s average home value of $1.82m - unchanged from a year ago - is the highest in the country and its housing is rated as severely unaffordable.

The highest Queenstown house price, and the only $20m-plus sale to date, was Kiwi billionaire Graeme Hart’s 2017 purchase of a $23.5m property in Closeburn.

Top-end sales in the past eight months include $12.37m paid for a house in Belfast Tce on Queenstown Hill, $10m for a house called Chantecler on 9.8ha on Lower Shotover Road near Lake Hayes, $9.47m for a house on Hogans Gully Rd near Arrowtown, and $9m for an Edinburgh Dr house also on Queenstown Hill.

Queenstown valuer Ben Rotto, director of APL Property, said there is “definitely energy and interest” in that part of the market, including from Australia and Singapore where the overseas buyer ban does not apply, and from Kiwi residents living overseas.

“People are looking here, with this uncertain world elsewhere.

“Buyers want views, privacy and some land, especially around Queenstown Lakes. When you spend north of $10m, you don’t want people staring into your backyard.”

Being advertised now are two homes likely to fetch $20m or more, while others in the same bracket are quietly for sale off-market.

For sale on Millvista Lane at Millbrook near Arrowtown, overlooking Lake Hayes and the Remarkables, is a five bedroom, five bathroom house with a rating valuation of $19.95m. Its value is estimated by homes.co.nz at $20.1m.

Advertising describes it as a “masterpiece” and a “stunning” home which is “the epitome of luxury and sophistication”.

The 810m2 house had multiple living areas, a media room, and a teppanyaki room, with grand front doors from Rajasthan, India. Outside the 4180m2 property has a heated pool, spa, and outdoor living area with a fireplace.

It has been on the market since December at a negotiable price.

Also advertised is a house on 21 hectares in Hunter Rd in Speargrass Flat, with a $18.07m rating valuation. It has a negotiable pricetag but Finnigan, who is marketing the property, said it will go for $20m-plus. He described the property as “outstanding” and “irreplaceable”.

Finnegan said at least two Queenstown homes, or more, could sell for $20m-plus this year. Sales in that bracket can take two years, especially if purchasers live overseas.

Buyers’ top priorities in that price bracket are location, privacy, and calibre of build, he said.

“They are accustomed to something pretty special. A timber-framed house is not going to tick the boxes.”

Such buyers probably come from out-of-town, have “three or four” homes, and won’t live full-time in Queenstown, he said.

With homes in international hotspots such as Hong Kong costing “north of $200m”, Queenstown’s luxury market is “very, very small fish” for international buyers.

Finnigan said big-money buyers include new residents from overseas who meet the Government’s investment criteria and are spending offshore money.

“Queenstown is very appealing and New Zealand is very appealing. Queenstown just attracts more of the international-type buyer. Unlike the rest of the market, we are able to sustain price growth.”