Tide of demand drives luxury Sumner developments
Sunday, 17 August 2025
Sumner is riding a wave of redevelopment, with a new $80 million apartment complex planned for the Christchurch seaside suburb, two others already taking shape, and nearby development sites changing hands.
Investor Denis Harwood, who owns two former “surfer” houses on adjacent Esplanade properties, said he hopes to get under way soon on his 21-apartment luxury development on the Marriner St corner.
The complex would be four storeys high with basement parking, and worth $78m to $85m, he said.
Putting medical premises into the development and adding a rooftop helicopter pad is also under consideration.
Harwood said once he has consent, he will demolish the houses and hopes to start work on the redevelopment next year.
The weatherboard dwellings were rented out for many years to groups of young surfers and were well known as party houses.
“It’s the best site in Sumner,” Harwood said.
“The apartments will be the jewel in the crown of Sumner. They will absolutely sell.”
A few doors away, Brooksfield has started construction of its 11-townhouse heritage-inspired development on the corner of Marriner and Burgess streets. The land is the site of the old Sumner Hotel.
Where the Esplanade meets Marriner St, one of the six buildings in the 57-apartment Beachside complex is under construction with two more about to start.
Prices for homes in Beachside, where amenities include a sauna, pool and dog-wash station, go as high as $3m.
Sothebys International agent Rosa Carter said more than half of those advertised so far have sold.
“Once people see them going up, we start to get a lot of calls”.
Buyers, as for much of the property in Sumner, include locals downsizing and coming from hill homes, Carter said.
“There’s also that contingent moving in to Christchurch from other parts of the country, or moving from overseas. They want to be oceanside, or walking distance to the beach and the schools”.
Analyst Cotality says the median value of free-standing houses in the flat area of Sumner is $1.12m, after increasing by 7% in the past 12 months.
This week another prominent Sumner development site went up for sale - an 1800m2 block with three homes in as-is condition on Marriner St behind Harwood’s properties.
The owners live in one of the homes and acquired the other two over a 30-year period. The properties are for sale jointly with a September 10 deadline.
Together the three sites have a 2022 rating valuation of close to $3.5m, but real estate agent Martin Hebler of Savills said the value is in their development potential and medium-density zoning.
A buyer could demolish and redevelop the whole site, rent out the homes and redevelop later, or renovate them, he said.
'You could develop something absolutely high end, or do something for the downsizer market.“
Building just back from the beachfront is easier because trying to get the best value out of waterfront property means “having to come up with a resource consent and contend with the locals”, Hebler said.
“This is right by the commercial area, with the restaurants and the cinema. It’s right in the heart of Sumner.”
Another potential site with two old houses on the Esplanade and a rating valuation of just over $2m, near the corner of Head St, changed hands in June.
A modern home a few doors down, opposite Scarborough Park, sold three weeks ago for a price thought to more than $3m.
The two dearest homes on the Esplanade are both modern double-storey houses with rating valuations of more than $6 million.