John Key built the beachfront house in several stages over the years after buying a quarter-acre section in 1990.
John Key built the beachfront house in several stages over the years after buying a quarter-acre section in 1990.
Former ANZ New Zealand chief executive David Hisco and his wife Deborah Walsh have sold the spacious Ōmaha Bay beach house the couple bought from former Prime Minister Sir John Key and doubled their money.
The four bedroom, beach-front house sold to Chris and Patricia Dickey in Novemberlast year for $6.3 million, twice the $3.1m price Hisco and Walsh paid in January 2018.
The pair own the property as trustees of a trust, along with lawyer Michael Foley, a spokesperson for Chris Dickey told the Herald.
Property records for 43 Success Court, Ōmaha show that no new building consents were issued for the property during the period it was owned by Hisco and Walsh, though listing agent Di Balich of Precision Real Estate told One Roof in November that the couple made significant upgrades during their ownership, including a new roof.
Balich said Hisco and Walsh spend much of their time outside New Zealand.
Contacted by the Herald on Tuesday, Balich described the transaction as “a very private sale” and declined to comment.
Chris Dickey is the owner and managing director of Auckland-based Southbourne Holdings Ltd, a company that owns and manages commercial and industrial property.
Key and his wife, Bronagh, bought the 1011 sq m section in 1990 and built the 240 sq m house, over several stages, in the subsequent decade.
The sale by the Keys to Hisco and Walsh settled when Key was a director of ANZ New Zealand, and taking up its chairmanship, and Hisco was both a director of the company and its chief executive.
ANZ chief executive David Hisco. Photo/Sarah Ivey.
In 2019, Key said he agreed the sale with Hisco before joining the bank’s board, and, in addition, disclosed the arrangement, at the time, to the parent banking group’s Australia-based chairman and CEO.
The 2018 sale price was noteworthy because it was below the property’s $3.65m rateable value.
Key told the Herald he believed the council assessment – released in November 2017 – was wrong for the property, and that the agreed price was based on a valuation he commissioned earlier in 2017.
The matter came to the fore in 2019 when Key, as chairman of ANZ New Zealand, announced Hisco’s departure from the chief executive role amid an expenses scandal.
However, it was a second sharp property deal involving Hisco and Walsh, undisclosed by either Key or ANZ, that cast a cloud of scandal over the bank.
Sir John Key and his wife Bronagh built the 240 sq m house. Photo / Greg Bowker, File
In 2017, Walsh paid $6.9m for the lavish St Heliers home that Hisco had previously leased from his employer, ANZ.
The sale price was nearly $4m below the property’s rateable value of $10.75m, determined before the transaction, and it was also less than the $7.55m ANZ paid for the property in 2011, despite a steep rise in property prices in the intervening years.
The Financial Markets Authority determined that ANZ’s sale of the property to Walsh should have been disclosed as a related-party transaction in its 2017 financial statements.
Other property holdings
New Zealand company records show that Hisco and Walsh also made a considerable investment in commercial student accommodation in 2021.
Selwyn Street Student Accommodation, a company established in 2021 and owned 80% by the couple, purchased a four-storey student accommodation building on Selwyn St, Tauranga in June of that year. Property records show the purchase price was $19.8m.
The rateable value is $21.05m; it was last updated on May 1.
The facility opened in January 2022, and is adjacent to the University of Waikato’s Tauranga Campus and is known as the “Selwyn Street Studios”. It contains 91 studio rooms as well as shared facilities and is both leased and managed by the University of Waikato.
The university’s lease runs to January 1, 2037, with a right of renewal provision, according to property records.
The balance of the company’s shares are owned by businessmen Mitchell Stephen Plaw and Michael Wayne Crawford.
Both men have wide ranging business interests including property development and both are joint owners of Profile Group, the holding company of a variety of firms manufacturing aluminium windows and doors.
