This government’s response to Covid may have wrecked many businesses and lives but a luxury development in the well-known wine region Gibbston Valley, not far from Arrowtown and Queenstown, has shown us that not everyone in New Zealand is hurting.
The long awaited Gibbston Valley Resort’s first phase was launched just prior to Christmas with the release of 100 homes in what will be called ‘The Vines’ section of the development.
And sales have been moving along swimmingly with over fifty conditional contracts being signed in the first four days according to Harcourts salesman, Hamish Walker (yep, you’ve heard that name before).
Walker says that about 90% of the initial sales have been to Aucklanders, with the balance being from other areas of New Zealand and a few expats returning home.
The resort itself will be pretty great I suspect. Residents will enjoy the 1,000 acre Gibbston Valley Station as their private playground. Amenities including a village area with artisan shops, cafe and garden centre, Gibbston Valley Golf Course, the Country Club including a spa, wellness centre, restaurant and gymnasium will all be available for owners and guests. Feel free to check out Hamish’s sales guff here if you are in the market for a little slice of the resort and may wish to have the likes of Sir John Key and Brendon McCullum as neighbours.
Two bedroom homes started at only $1.2 million but the homes currently available start from $1.35m for the wee ones, heading up to around $4m for four bedroom homes.
If that’s not quite the market you’re into, maybe Ngai Tahu could help you out. And if you thought KiwiBuild was a dead duck, fear not, they are teaming up with the local tribe to supply a residential development on Queenstown land where the Wakatipu High School used to be.
Around 105 of the 300 planned homes will be for sale via KiwiBuild, although quite how they will supply quality three bedroom homes in Queenstown for under $650,000 I’m not sure. I hope they succeed though as homes in that sort of price range are unheard of in the area and have been for many years.
At least it looks like the luxury housing market crisis for Aucklanders appears to be over.
If you can’t afford $4m for a rundown shack in Grey Lynn, just buy a brand new 3 bedder next to a world-renowned vineyard in Gibbston and have a million or so leftover for a couple of new Land Rovers and a Bayliner.
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