Multi-award-winning Millbrook Resort has notched up a record year of property sales, hotel occupancy and golf round numbers as it prepares to host this year’s New Zealand Golf Open.
Continued investment in property development, hotel villa refurbishment and associated on-site business outlets resulted in a record $93m in combined Millbrook Realty-brokered sales in the 12 months ending January 2026.
$33m came from the sale of Millbrook’s own new developments and the remaining was in $60m of re-sales. The sales came from 20 transactions at an average of $4.648m including sections and homes.
A key part of the hotel’s accommodation stock – premium villas with stunning views of fairways, greens and surrounding mountains — has been refurbished at a cost of $17m over the past two-and-a-half years.
The refurbishment programme and raised branding awareness through the New Zealand Open and destination marketing has resulted in a record over $2m in hotel revenue on the books for the current February/March period.
Investment in recent years in a second 18-hole championship course at the property saw golf round numbers increase to 42,000 rounds clocked by members and paying guests in the 12 months to September 2025.
And investment in the wider business included the $1.2m refurbishment of the Health and Fitness Centre, which now boasts all new Technogym equipment.
Property & Development Director Ben O’Malley says confidence in the Millbrook brand has never been stronger as the 270ha resort, nestled in a corner of the Wakatipu Basin alongside picturesque Arrowtown, also grows in popularity thanks to its inclusion in an extensive network of biking and walking trails.
“On the construction side over the years we’ve completed 310 properties, there are 10 being built now with a combined construction cost of around $40m and there’s only 14 empty sections left,” he says.
“There are other house and land developments in the pipeline including adjacent to Coronet No. 1, but it’s fair to say we’re getting near the end of building new properties.
“With a finite supply available that’s where the value growth really ramps up for owners.”
Ben says there was a lull in property sales after the last election but confidence in the high-end market is now strong.
“Anecdotally this is being partly driven by overseas buyers looking to pre-empt any market uplift with the future lifting of the ban on foreign ownership.”
Millbrook’s latest property offering is The Tui’s, a boutique collection of four architecturally designed homes in the Grand Terrace enclave of Mill Farm. The 275sqm homes are packed full of high-end features.
“We sold two of these off the plans to Kiwis looking to invest here and a third is under contract to an Australian buyer, with the fitted out show home still available for prospective buyers,” says Ben.
“Elsewhere there’s only a handful of land-only sections available in the Mill Farm development while bespoke Fairway homes are being marketed for up to the $17m mark.”
