Price for Waiheke spread jacked up to $30 million

The mansion at Cowes Bay on Waiheke Island.

Since January last year, Waiheke Island residents Beverley and Sean Donnelly have been trying to sell one of the country's most expensive properties.

Their 36ha Cowes Bay estate with its sprawling 1200sq m plantation-style mansion sporting eight bedrooms, six bathrooms and 9.5m indoor pool has languished on the market.

Despite its private wharf, views directly across to Pakatoa Island - itself on the market for $30 million - and waterfront location taking up almost all of Cowes Bay, deals have eluded them.

Last year, the New Zealand couple sought $26 million.

Now they want $30 million, more than twice the $14 million record that Auckland financier Mark Hotchin set in November when he bought a 4ha Boathouse Bay property on Waiheke. A lifestyle block at Karaka, south of Auckland, also fetched $14 million in 2004, although it covered 31.5ha.

"If it sells, it sells," said Mr Donnelly, originally from Ireland but now with houses in London, Ireland and Port Moresby. He has a Papua New Guinea business which supplies prefabricated accommodation for gas, oil, gold and copper mining camps.

"The only reason we're selling is we don't get to spend enough time here," Mr Donnelly said.

They bought the property because Mrs Donnelly was originally from the island, he said. She used to play in the bay and had fond childhood memories of the area. The couple paid just over $2 million for the land in the early 1990s, then built the huge house. The property comes with a caretaker's residence, and woolshed with its own boatshed.

Last weekend Queenstown agent Michael Boulgaris of Sotheby's International Realty launched a national marketing campaign to sell the Donnellys' property and is about to post it on his firm's global website, trying to draw foreigners' attention.

"We put the price up because we thought it was too cheap on an international scale," Mr Boulgaris said of the 15 per cent price rise.

His weekend campaign drew six responses from New Zealanders - not well-known names from the rich list, he said.

Because the property is in four titles, some people were interested in the house without the farm although he hopes to sell the place in one deal.

He is marketing the estate as "a property like none other, positioned on a private secluded beachfront location" and is sure he can find a buyer because of Sotheby's connections.

Agent Chris Palmer of Premium Real Estate has sold properties on the island since 1992 but his listing early last year drew no buyers.

Placing the property with Sotheby's was obviously an attempt to bring overseas investors, Mr Palmer said, although he also advertised in a European country life magazine and featured the property in Paris and New York newspapers. Mr Palmer sold properties for $8 million in the last two months, including a 1ha lifestyle block at Church Bay for $2.5 million, a 3ha block at Te Whau for $1.6 million and a house near Oneroa for $1.3 million. All went to Aucklanders, he said.

Industry sources said an agent could earn a 2 per cent commission on the Cowes Bay sale, equal to around $600,000 in one deal.

Record property deals

* $14 million paid last year for a 4ha Waiheke property.

* $14 million paid in 2004 for a 31.5ha Karaka farm.

* $30 million being asked for Cowes Bay estate.

* $30 million being sought for Pakatoa Island.