SkyView: A home fit for James Bond just listed in NZ

That old adage goes that children should be seen but not heard. As for technology, the best kind shouldn’t be seen but instead infinitely improve your life, without you even noticing.

SkyView in the Bay of Plenty on New Zealand’s north island, features the kind of tech James Bond would delight in, without you even knowing it’s there.

The six-bedroom, five-bathroom residence is a modern architectural masterpiece, with clean lines and expansive glass walls seamlessly integrating indoor and out.

The region is renowned for its pleasant climate and relaxed vibe, making it popular with retirees or those seeking a second home away from the city. Located just 2.5 hours from Auckland, SkyView offers an escape, without sacrificing convenience.

For the current owners, who completed the home in 2021 after a five-year journey, the residence has served as their full-time sanctuary. Their initial brief was simple yet ambitious: create a place that feels like a holiday without leaving home. It was a vision realised through meticulous attention to detail and landscaping, which transforms the property into a lush oasis.

“A huge amount of effort, time and money went into creating the tropical and subtropical feel. Planting was done to ensure there’s year-round flowering, with a wide range of plants that attract and feed birds,” says agent Ben Hawan from Oliver Road Luxury Real Estate.

The residence itself spans three levels and a generous 805 square metres. The main level features three bedrooms including the main bedroom, each with an en suite. Multiple living areas, including a gourmet kitchen with a discreet scullery, enjoy stretching views through floor-to-ceiling windows, and seamlessly flow to the resort-style patio. Out there, the polished marble and saltwater pool features a waterfall, bubble jets, a motorised pool cover and an internal pool cleaner. There’s also a seven-seat spa pool and a fire pit immersed in the landscaping, for sunset views.

“When you’re in the house looking out, the property falls down away from you, so you get this infinite space effect, with big expansive views towards Tauranga and Mount Maunganui. It can deceptively make the property look smaller than it is, but in fact there are 12 hectares out there,” says Hawan.

And those 12 hectares aren’t just beautiful to look at. They’ve been developed into highly usable spaces. From the picture-perfect truffiere, which presents a lucrative future revenue stream, to the orchard, a horse arena, bushwalking tracks and mountain bike trails built by world-renowned professionals.

Back inside and upstairs, bedroom four has its own en suite and extensive views and there’s a gym. Downstairs to the lower level, the triple lock-up garage has been painstakingly designed to showcase beautiful cars.

There’s also a self-contained two-bedroom apartment, which has internal access to its own double garage. Alongside it, the commercial-grade plant room, which incorporates aerospace levels of engineering, runs the house.

“For all its size and awe, SkyView has a very reserved front door, but stepping inside you just feel calm,” says Hawan.

“They’ve gone to exceptional lengths to hide a huge amount of detail and technology in the house. When you walk through, it’s quite minimalist. Everything’s smooth, everything’s calm, and huge portions of the home open up to that pool area and the view.”

As well as being a dreamy spot to escape from the world, you can also escape within the home itself. There are a couple of secret rooms if you know where to look. The main suite can also be locked off, leaving you to indulge in peace in the large bathtub, where one wall opens to the outdoors, surrounding you in lush plants.

Then there are all the touches, like a state-of-the-art home automation system, with fixed touchscreens so you can set things as you wish, or timed automation so you don’t have to lift a finger. Then there’s high-end climate control, underfloor heating, and a lift servicing all levels. A courtyard outside the garage has a custom car-wash station, which softens the water so you can meticulously tend to your collection. For true peace, when only the sound of birds will do, a patio “pool off” switch gives you 30 minutes of complete silence.

“What really stands out is the level of detail and amount of technology that’s in the house, twinned with the exceptional efforts that they have gone to for none of that to be seen, and for it to have this normal feel and appearance when you’re in,” he says.

“You won’t see gadgets or tech everywhere. It’s all very still and calm, but it’s all present behind the walls and under the floors and in the ceilings.”