Urban's suburban dream

Karl Urban's family have upgraded to another Herne Bay home, this time a villa. Photo / Supplied

Kiwi actor spends $5.25m on villa to upgrade family's much-loved Herne Bay lifestyle.

Kiwi actor Karl Urban has upgraded his family to a $5.25 million home in Herne Bay, Auckland.

The buy follows the $2.28 million sale of his former home in Jervois Rd, also in Herne Bay, in April.

His new home, a 404sq m villa built in the 1960s, sits on a 1259sq m section and has five bedrooms and five bathrooms. Herne Bay is the country's most expensive suburb, with an average house price of $1,913,333, and Urban's home is in one of the most expensive streets, with an average house value of $2.85 million.

Urban and his wife, Natalie Wihongi, who was his makeup artist on TV movie The Privateers, have two sons, Hunter, 12, and Indiana, 7.

They bought the home for $150,000 below its valuation of $5.4 million.

Urban did not want to comment on his new home but when he was selling his former home last year, he told the Herald he was often asked by fans if he would move overseas, but said his family were looking for a house nearby.

"I often get asked if I'd move to LA. I just absolutely love living in Herne Bay. It's got a great school, awesome cafes and really lovely, interesting people," he said.

The Jervois Rd home was built in the early 1900s, sits on a 528sq m section, and has four bedrooms, three bathrooms and two garages.

It was bought by Audi head of marketing Fiona Woolley and her partner, Stewart Imrie, who owns a financial services company in the city, for $870,000 above its capital value of $1.41 million.

Wellington-born Urban has starred in a handful of blockbusters, including the second and third instalments of Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Bourne Supremacy alongside Matt Damon, last year's Dredd as the title character, the 2009 Star Trek film and will this year star in the franchise's newest film, Star Trek into Darkness. Early in his career he played Shortland Street paramedic Jamie Forrest and starred in Xena: Warrior Princess, alongside Lucy Lawless, and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, alongside Kevin Sorbo.

The Herald revealed last week that the most expensive home sold last year was a $9.1 million beachfront property on the North Shore that went for $1.6 million over its valuation.