Politics place NZ, Tara Iti in global investment spotlight
While ripples emanating from the U.S. presidential election continue to influence events inside and outside the world’s largest democracy/economy, Jim Rohrstaff can only shrug, smile and acknowledge his adopted country’s good fortune. Rohrstaff is the American co-owner of Legacy Partners Ltd., an Auckland-based brokerage that handles high-value real estate properties across New Zealand, including golf’s reigning links sensation, the Tom Doak-designed Tara Iti Golf Club.
Donald Trump’s victory on Nov. 8 may have broken the Canadian immigration department website, but traffic was no less heavy in New Zealand, a country even more notable for its economic and social stability. On Nov. 9, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) Marketing Manager Greg Forsythe told the BBC that U.S.-based web visits to the INZ portal had spiked by 4700 percent. Actual registrations for visas more than doubled.
Tara Iti GC and its real estate component, Te Arai, are located just 100 kilometers from Auckland — about an hour’s drive (or 18-minute helicopter ride) to the northeast. Rohrstaff, a native of Kalamazoo, Mich., who cut his teeth in the golf real estate business in Southern California, has been living in New Zealand with his family since 2014. His apolitical reaction to all this immigration and property interest is straightforward: What took everyone so long?
“When it comes to a winter golf destination or residence, North Americans understand they must go south,” he says. “But they ignore the fact that in, say, Palm Springs or Florida or the Caribbean, the sun goes down every day at 4:30 p.m. To effectively chase the sunlight, they need to keep heading south, and west. Here in the Southern Hemisphere, Christmas is pretty much the longest day of the year!”
Designed by Tom Doak, Tara Iti GC is nestled in a natural dunescape south of Mangawhai. Opened in October 2015, it quickly captured the attention of links aficionados, course raters and property investors worldwide. Only 20 of 46 housing lots have been released thus far; according to Rohrstaff, all 20 are spoken for, meaning design and construction of homes is now underway — along with a series of chic guest cottages whose modernist designs (courtesy of Auckland-based architect John Irving) have already set Kiwi architectural circles atwitter.
Rohrstaff reports the next phase of real estate at Te Arai will feature finished homes in a section of the property dubbed Sandhills. That release will take place in early 2017. These custom-built homes will sit on lots slightly smaller than 7 additional beachfront home sites to be released in 2017, each measuring between 2.5 and 5 acres in size.
“There are two overarching components at Te Arai, one centered on these beach sites and another featuring custom-built homes in the Sandhills,” he says. “All told, we have 11 kilometers of pristine shorefront here and 1,300 hectares of freehold land. That’s an extraordinary lack of density, especially at beachfront. In terms of shore access, privacy and sheer beauty, these home sites honestly have very few comps anywhere in the world. The most apt comparison would be the Hamptons, but a lot closer to the city, at a fraction of the price.
“And when I say ‘fraction’, I’m talking a tenth.”
