Te Reiputa Auckland build-to-rent apartment fills fast as tenants lock in up to 10-year leases
Simplicity Living's new 297-unit, five-building apartment project between Mt Wellington Highway and 1 Reiputa Lane is opening on May 1. Photo / Corey Fleming.
More than half of the units in the country’s largest build-to-rent apartment block have been tenanted ahead of its official opening.
Te Reiputa, which means the shark’s-tooth pendant, is based in Auckland’s Mt Wellington.
For hundreds of Aucklanders, it could also mean safe, fit-for-purpose, well-built, long-term rental accommodation on a site where more than 700 people could soon be living.
Tenants of New Zealand’s biggest build-to-rent project (two units larger than the nearby Resido) are being offered contracts up to a decade long, giving them stability – or they can sign a more flexible periodic contract with no end date.
Simplicity Living managing director Shane Brealey said opening day is May 1 at the 297-unit, five-building Mt Wellington project between the Mt Wellington Highway and 1 Reiputa Lane.
The first residents arrived in January and 149 of the initial 191 units are already rented out.
The remaining places are in the new 11-level final block, now being fitted out and available from May 4.
Brealey expects it to only take about three more months to rent all 297 units.
Te Reiputa rents are:
- $500-$550/ week, 42-58sq m one-bedroom, no car park;
- $550-$580/week, 42-58sq m one-bedroom, one car park;
- $615-$630/week, 75sq m two bedrooms, no car park;
- $665-$675/week, 75sq m two bedrooms, one carpark;
- $780-$820/week, 101sq m three-bedroom with carpark.
Brealey says Simplicity rents are much cheaper than at the nearby 295-unit Resido by Kiwi Property Group.
Those were reported in 2024 to start at $697/week.
Two-bedroom, two-bathroom, 90sq m Resido places near the new Ikea are being rented out for $921/week, while the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms in a 76-80sq m place is $889/week.
Brealey said rents could be kept lower at Te Reiputa due to developing exactly what people needed without adding luxuries he’s seen overseas, such as dog-washing stations.
“No gym and no swimming pool,” Brealey said.
Such features increase project prices but don’t necessarily add benefit for residents.
Yet it does have shared areas, as well as 222 car parks and a security application for residents to get access to secure parking, their own units and common areas.
The entire top floor of the tallest block is dedicated as an indoor-outdoor, resident-exclusive common area.
That 11th floor has wide city views and can host up to 200 people with an outdoor BBQ deck, TV area, kitchen and dining and lounge areas.
Across the corridor between the lifts is a separate residents’ working zone with a meeting room.
New residents are already making the place their own.
“A four-piece band has already formed in the community pavilion,” Brealey says of another common area.
That pavilion is on the ground floor.
It is flanked by native gardens with sculpture by Anton Forde, a stone bridge, pond and 7000 native plants, including kauri, nikau, muehlenbeckia and pūriri.
Te Reiputa was estimated four years ago to cost $154m and cost exactly $154m, Brealey said.
There was no cost escalation, despite rampant building sector inflation – yet the project’s end valuation is $215m, showing the big margin Simplicity won.
All units have a fridge/freezer, stove, cooktop, washing machine/dryer and heat pump, with exterior units on decks.
Tenants only need to bring furniture. No packages are offered.
Storage is provided for 297 bikes as well as motorbikes. Six staff work in the project’s leasing and management team.
Rents will benefit Simplicity KiwiSaver members.
Simplicity Living is using the KiwiSaver and investment funds to build and hold the residential properties, targeting more than 10,000 apartments eventually.
And now Brealey has his eye on the company’s first site outside Auckland, at Queenstown, where 1083 units are planned.
Construction is to begin soon, possibly by November.
Simplicity Living’s build-to-rent projects
Simplicity Living’s 2331 build-to-rent units are planned or under construction on seven sites at:
- Remarkables Park, Queenstown: 1083 units, $500m investment planned. 12 Lower Shotover Rd, planned;
- Te Reiputa: 297 units, 222 car parks, $225m, 80 Mt Wellington Highway, opening May 1;
- Waiatarua: 330 units, 172 car parks, $284m, 130 Ascot Ave, ex-Ellerslie Racecourse carpark, under construction;
- Northcote: 93 units, 137 Lake Rd, started in November;
- Morningside: 322 units, 10 Morningside Drive, construction started last July, due for completion 2027;
- Ex-Unitec and at Waterview, developing 206 units with Ngāti Whātua;
- Considering buying at Maungawhau near the CBD, on land used for the City Rail Link’s laydown yard, yet to purchase.
Anne Gibson has been the Herald’s property editor for 26 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.
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