A young marketing director nabs the 95th – and lucky last – apartment at our Kōkihi development in Waterview. “Great design, brilliant location… super views,” was first-home buyer Natalie’s succinct and generous assessment of her future two bedroom Waterview home. Welcome to the Ockham whānau, Nat – we’re amped to have you aboard!

Her story is a familiar one which starts with the OE, that rite of passage so many of us undertook in ancient times prior to the plague. For three-and-a-half years Nat lived in London, working at a marketing agency, flatting in the Aotearorian enclave of Shepherd’s Bush and generally having a whale of a time. Then in November 2019 it was time to come home.

Her timing, as events were soon to demonstrate, was impeccable. With some money saved – and having recently turned 30 – buying her first home was somewhere on the radar, even if not right away.

“I was tossing up between a new build or existing apartments,” Nat says. “I did a lot of research… I consulted Dr Google and began following various developments. I found the Kōkihi apartments and really liked them. I hadn’t heard of Ockham before, but I was impressed with the design.”

Nat did more ‘due diligence’ and got in the experts. “My mum, Deb, has an architectural background and took a keen interest in the building design. And my dad, John, was a big fan of the location and outlook.”

The researching started to get more serious. Nat and the parentals popped into Ockham HQ back in March to check out Kōkihi. They liked what they saw. Only a few days later it was lockdown. 

Sales abruptly halt over lockdown

“They seemed pretty keen,” remembers Ockham’s sales team leader, Joss Lewis. “But the timing wasn’t right. Natalie had just come home, had started a new job and was just settling back in. And then, of course, bang! Covid.”

It was an immensely difficult few months for the country and it had an immediate effect at Ockham. “We launched Kōkihi in late-2019 and it sold at an unprecedented rate for those first few months,” Joss says. “But then everything froze when the country went to Level 4 lockdown on 25 March.

“We were busy Zooming lots of potential buyers but everyone was just waiting to see what happened.

“As soon as we moved back to Level 1 in June, things took off again. We were just swamped!” 

"We have one left..."

There’s always an element of serendipity when you buy a house, especially when it’s your first. Coming into October – having hunkered down through Covid, through winter – Natalie had only just resumed her home-buying research.

And this is where the serendipitous moments begin. One weekend in October, Natalie was out and about for a coffee with the folks when they drove along New North Road and drove right past Kōkihi. The build, we can say with only the barest bias, has gone brilliantly and it certainly caught their eye.

“Kōkihi always looked great on paper,” Nat says, “but we were impressed, Mum especially, with the construction and the build. We could really see it coming together.

“And so, randomly, I emailed Joss and said: ‘Remember me?! I assume all your apartments at Kōkihi have gone…’”

“We had one left,” says Joss Lewis, “just one”. And it was a lovely apartment, too, a two-bedroom on the first floor of Building 3, looking out towards Oakley Creek.

“Natalie came back in and we went through things in detail. She’d followed a lot of other developments over the past six months but reckoned none had been quite as good as this.” Joss pauses, then smiles. “Now that was a very lovely thing of her to say!”

While Joss is perhaps not the most objective observer, Kōkihi clearly captured the imagination of buyers. “It’s the fastest-selling development in Ockham history,” Joss continues. “It’s gone very, very well. Obviously, the market is buoyant, but there are some aspects of Kōkihi which have really resonated. The excellent location is definitely one. And just the high quality of the development at an affordable price point.”

But she believes Ockham’s proven track record has also contributed to the success of Kōkihi. “It’s a big deal to buy off the plans,” Joss says. “But we have earned a reputation over 12 completed developments over more than a decade. We have become a trusted brand. People know when they buy Ockham, they’re buying quality. And that we will deliver.

“A lot of people say they wouldn’t buy off the plans from anyone else. Because developments can look pretty good in the abstract – in the models, the brochures, the artist’s impressions – only for this not to fully translate to the finished product.”

Signing for her first home

Natalie had made up her mind. She returned to the Ockham HQ a couple of days later, this time with the full crew in tow (younger sister Sarah was also a valued member of the decision-making committee). Ockham’s Joss Lewis took them through the paperwork, then passed Nat the pen for that always momentous moment. Nat had just signed up for her first home – and locked in the last Kōkihi apartment. Out came the Veuve Clicquot.