Top 5 Developers in Christchurch

You’ve got to be cautious when choosing a property developer.

When you buy off-the-plans you’re buying drawings on a piece of paper and you need to know the developer will turn those drawings into a well-built property; that they’re not going to use cheap building materials and that they’re not going to try and charge you way more money … or pull a fast one.

Here at Opes Partners we help over 450 investors buy New Build properties every year. And we work with over 97 developers around the country.

So, a lot of people ask us: “Who are the best developers in Christchurch?”

This is why, in this article, you'll learn our top 5 picks for developers in Christchurch.

Now, you could go to these developers directly, not use our service and cut us out. Yes, that’s a risk of writing this article. But we want our customers to be as informed as possible, and we’ll never shy away from being blatantly honest. So here are our top 5 developers in Christchurch in no particular order.

Disclaimer: Just so you know. None of the developer on this list paid us any money to be on here. In fact, I didn't even ask them if they wanted to be on here. These are the developers from our experience that tend to produce good investment properties.

#1 Oakridge Homes

Oakridge Homes is a young company; they started in 2021.

But don’t let this put you off. Yes, the brand and the company are young, but the team behind Oakridge Homes are extremely experienced.

Director James Parker has had a longstanding working relationship with Opes Partners.

Oakridge primarily builds standalone houses. They focus on building in outer Christchurch suburbs and nearby satellite towns. This includes:

• Kaiapoi
• Rolleston
• Halswell
• Woodend and
• Belfast

Here’s an example of a recent development in Belfast, Christchurch.

Oakridge are a solid option for investors looking for a growth property.

Here at Opes, we like Oakridge Homes because they’ve built a lot of properties for our investors in the past and through that we’ve built trust and know they produce quality homes.

What they build: Standalone houses.

Where they build: Canterbury – especially Kaiapoi, Rolleston, Halswell, Woodend and Belfast.

Best for: Property investors looking for capital growth and owner-occupiers.

Opes has recommended 300-350 Oakridge houses to investors over the years.

#2 Freedom Built

Freedom Built is a family-run business. It used to only build standalone homes, but recently started building townhouses.

Opes Partners has had a working relationship with Freedom Built for many years. They produce good, reliable properties.

Freedom Built properties are a bit more expensive, compared with Oakridge Homes, but this is often because their properties are a bit larger, and have a different layout.

This difference can be a selling point for some owner-occupiers … and investors.

The company is run by Grant, Cole and Chloe Askew.

Cole and Chloe appeared on episode 5 of our series, The Deal.

We like that Freedom Built builds family homes (4-bed) on decent-sized plots.

They offer a decent yield for investors without compromising on capital growth potential.

Freedom Built townhouses tend to be in Spreydon, St Albans or Edgeware.

What they build: Standalone houses and townhouses.

Where they build: Rolleston and Christchurch.

Best for: Property investors looking for capital growth and owner-occupiers.

Opes has recommended 50-60 Freedom Built properties to investors over the years.

#3 TAO homes

Tao Meng is the guy behind TAO Homes and has 12 years experience in residential development.

TAO Homes does:

• Affordable, investment-grade townhouses
• And higher-end, more luxurious properties

Lately, Tao has focused more on the higher-end homes, so their properties haven’t suited our investors as much. That’s not a criticism against TAO Homes properties, it’s just that luxury properties appeal more to owner-occupiers and not so much to numbers-focused investors.

That said, we still recommend some of their properties to investors.

Here’s an example of what one of their properties looks like:

Here at Opes, we’ve has a good experience working with Tao Homes, and we’ve found their team are focused on giving our investors a good deal.

Their properties are consistently built to a high standard.

You can usually identify a Tao development just by looking at it. The company tends to favour brick and stone. They’re a simple design you can have confidence in.

What they build: Townhouses (investment-grade and luxury).

Where they build: Christchurch East.

Best for: Property investors looking for capital growth and owner-occupiers.

Opes has recommended 20-30 TAO Homes properties to investors over the years.

#4 Rosefern

Rosefern is a newer developer to Opes Partners. At the time of writing we have worked with them for about 6 months, but we’ve been impressed with the numbers on their properties.

So far we’ve worked on 2 developments with them.

Here’s an example of a recent property recommended to our investors:

Rosefern’s properties are well-priced, and they look good.

Some of their townhouses are higher-spec, so not all properties will stack up as a good investment.

Rosefern began back in 2019. Two British guys, Ant and Paul, met Kiwi-born Scott. The two opposing rugby teams inspired the name and logo; the rose and the silver fern.

The team is smaller than some other Christchurch developers so they don’t produce as many properties as some bigger companies.

They tend to build in well-developed areas like Edgeware and Spreydon.

What they build: Townhouses (high-spec).

Where they build: Christchurch.

Best for: Property investors looking for capital growth and owner-occupiers.

Opes has recommended 10 Rosefern properties to investors.

#5 Four Avenues

Four Avenues was started by 3 brothers in 2019 – Jack, George and Rob.

They come from the Clifford family, an established family in Christchurch who accumulated an expansive portfolio of land over the years. The brothers are now developing townhouses on this land.

Opes Partners is currently recommending 3 developments from Four Avenues:

Here’s an example of one project in St Albans:

Previously, we recommended their developments in Woolston. At $539k for a 2-bed townhouse, these Woolston townhouses were among the most affordable we’d had in a while.

But don’t be fooled – affordable does not equal cheap. Four Avenues deliver good quality properties.

What they build: Townhouses.

Where they build: Christchurch.

Best for: Property investors looking for capital growth and owner-occupiers.

Opes has recommended 20 Four Avenues properties to investors.

Why aren’t the big names on this list?

You might notice that we haven’t included some of the big names on this list. People like Mike Greer Homes, G.J. Gardner, Williams Corporation, Wolfbrook and Brooksfield.

All these developers build a lot of properties in the Christchurch property market.

But we find that the bigger developers have bigger teams. They spend more money on offices. They have bigger brands, and so their properties tend to have a bigger price tag.

Here at Opes Partners we focus on property investors, so the numbers have to stack up.

That’s why choosing a smaller developer often makes sense. They tend to be more affordable than the bigger ones.

That doesn’t mean the bigger developers never build good investment properties. But, they’re not the companies we’d recommend first.

This list is based on our experience, and the numbers we see when evaluating properties.

Why would I use Opes Partners rather than going to a developer directly?

Here at Opes Partners we recommend New Build properties as investments.

So you might think … “you’ve just told me which developers you work with. Why don’t I cut out the middle man and go directly to them?”

The truth is you could, and some people prefer that.

But if you do go to a developer directly you do miss out on a few things. If you work with Opes –

• You get a property investment plan. A financial adviser will create this with you
• You know your property is a good investment, because a financial adviser will forecast the cashflow with you. Just because a developer is on this list doesn’t mean everything they build stacks up
• You get advice on how to buy and set up your investment property.

There is a lot more service when you work with Opes Partners. Click here to see the full list of extras you get. 

So, if you want to buy a New Build investment property we can help you find the right property, from the right developer. It’s all part of the service we offer.