$16 million Wānaka house sale to Australian couple sets new local record

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from Otago News

By Debbie Jamieson

A new Wānaka property record has been set with the sale of a home for $16 million to an Australian couple.

Built in 2012 and known as Te Kaitaka House, the, four-bedroom, four-bathroom home has won Stevens Lawson Architects several awards and featured on the BBC programme The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes in 2018.

It was bought earlier this year by Sydney-based couple Andrew and Emma Gray.

Andrew Gray is a co-founder of the tech sector investment firm Potentia Capital and a former chairperson of MYOB.

The previous owner was Mark Gray, a cosmetic surgeon and founder of the national Skin Institute chain.

The house sits on Buchanan Rise, Roys Peninsula, part of the “millionare’s row” in west Wānaka, near Glendhu Bay.

It is the same area in which PayPal founder Peter Thiel is fighting to build a lodge, and where another family has just won the right to build an enormous $20m, partly subterranean, 2000m² home.

Colliers Wānaka director Craig Myles said the $16m paid for Te Kaitaka was the highest individual price achieved by a lifestyle property in Wānaka, though some earlier sales might have reached higher values.

There were some premium properties available around Wānaka, including one section he recently sold for $10m and a property he had just listed, a 5.5ha section at John’s Creek, near Hāwea.

“It’s all testament to the sought-after location that Wānaka has become,” he said.

Some buyers were from overseas, but the majority were New Zealanders, he said.

The west Wānaka area was sought after because of the outstanding natural landscape, its proximity to skifields and the lake, and for the privacy of the location.

The Te Kaitaka property was quite unusual with a “floating, origami-style roofline” and its south-facing aspect, he said.

“It looks out into the bay area, which is quite spectacular.”

The property was originally listed with Sotheby’s Realty and was described as stunning.

Building materials including natural cedar wood blended into the surroundings. The roofline directed light into the home via skylights, “all the while creating a spiritual atmosphere with its sculptural form”.

It was priced at $18m at the time.

Little is known about buyers Andrew and Emma Gray, but The Australian Financial Review reported in February that they were selling their Sydney mansion seven months after buying it for NZ$18m.

Prior to that, they sold another Sydney home for NZ$40m in May last year.

Andrew Gray’s LinkedIn page says he has more than 25 years of experience working in the technology private equity investment industry.

He holds a master of business administration degree from Harvard Business School and a bachelor of aeronautical engineering with first-classhonours from the University of Sydney.