Luxury lifestyle living takes root at Highgrove in Matamata

Friday, 19 June 2026

One of Matamata’s most luxurious developments is set for a marketing relaunch under an international real estate agency ready to showcase its unique qualities.

Highgrove development sits on the outskirts of Matamata’s township. Designed with an English countryside aesthetic in mind, Highgrove is aimed at the upper end of the market and could attract international buyers as well as locals.

One of the development partners, Hayden Begovich, reckons “there’s nothing else like it and you’ll never get a development like this again”. Many developments now focused on high density, whereas this offered generous rural sized sections while still bordering town.

They have done things a bit differently at Highgrove by completing all of the landscaping and aesthetic touches before going to market.

“Typically, when you see a house on a big lifestyle section, the landscaping is the last cost and some people just don’t do it. We’ve done all of that here, it’s established.

“We’re into having high end stuff. We want something that is different and aesthetically pleasing. People can come in …. and say ‘I can really visualise my beautiful home in this section’.”

Sitting on 16ha, Highgrove offers 34 sections and only 28 are left to be sold. There are already more than 1000 trees and 3000 hedge plantings on site - many of which were trees that were already eight years old.

The sections are from 2970sqm to 5912sqm and range in prices from $740,000 to $865,000. House and land packages were also available for buyer flexibility. It had previously been on the market over the last couple years but is set for a marketing relaunch with Thomas Estates-Christie’s International Real Estate.

Co-founder and managing director, Angela Thomas, said they expected interest to pick up with their marketing re-launch that will include international advertising, weekly social media content and mail drops.

She believed the development would attract high-end buyers like families, retired farmers and professionals. She added that the arrival of the Sanderson Matamata Country Club was another sign that city people were moving out to rural towns.

“You’re very well connected here. You can still live in the country, but you’re very accessible. There’s nothing like this in say Cambridge. I think people are moving out more this way and the provinces are going to get busier.

“We’re actually seeing a lot of inquiries for the area from overseas, which is great. Obviously a subdivision like this isn’t over the $5 million mark, so we’re attracting Singaporeans, Australians and expatriates wanting to return to New Zealand.”

The minimum size for houses would be 250sqm and concept designs needed to be approved by the development committee to ensure they matched the style of the estate, although Begovich said they were not overly strict.

The development started in 2019 when Begovich, who already had a property on the site, decided to purchase the surrounding land when it hit the market. From there, he formed a partnership with neighbour Roger Coutts and others.

While it was tough going through Covid, Begovich reckoned he was glad to have bought then with prices climbing in recent years.

Begovich is co-founder of building company Begovich Builders Ltd with his brother Shaun. He had seen building reach a low in the last three years with prices for materials like plumbing equipment and concrete increasing.

However, while some of the larger building jobs were slow currently, he said business was still good and “the right time to build is today, not tomorrow”. He believed people buying this quality of property would not be as affected by building costs.

Begovich still plans to build his home in the development.

“At my age, I’m going to get the benefit of my vision in another 30 years time. I’ll drive through here and see all the established trees and get that satisfaction.”