Mana Lodge, the former family home of legendary Kiwi broadcaster Sir Paul Holmes, has sold for $5.2 million, OneRoof can reveal.
The homestead in Poukawa, Hawke’s Bay, was bought in April this year, just two months after it hit the market, but the sale could not be disclosed until now.
Bayleys agent Tim Wynne-Lewis, who brokered the deal, said that there were multiple offers on the 45-acre estate, which has an RV of $4.2 million and had been turned into horse-riding centre by the vendors.
“There was expat interest, including high net worth individuals referred from our Bayleys colleagues in Fiji. A lot of people out of the main centres as well as locals,” he said.
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“It ended up going to a local family with connections to the equestrian world, their sister is looking at setting up a riding school. They settled in July and are all moved in.”
Mana Lodge was built in 1947 and was owned by Sir Paul for more than 15 years.
The broadcaster got married to Lady Deborah Holmes at the property and his investiture ceremony was held on the grounds just two weeks before his death in 2013, aged 62.
Mana Lodge was built in 1947 and is one of the finest homes in Hawke's Bay. Photo / Paul Taylor
The lodge was bought off of Sir Paul’s estate in 2016 for $3.5m by a Kiwi family.
They installed a multi-million-dollar equestrian centre, complete with horse-jumping arena. “They [the vendors] created a world-class arena in Hawke’s Bay and some of this country’s best riders have done training programmes there,” Wynne-Lewis said.
The lodge itself has six bedrooms, three bathrooms, a wine cellar and a study room, while outside a large outdoor pool stretches out to a 40m pergola with paved walkway and a large well-maintained garden with rare imported lilies.
The two-bedroom Gatehouse on the estate is used as five-star rented accommodation. Photo/ Supplied
Wynne-Lewis told OneRoof that there were plenty of buyers with budgets of $3m-$5m looking for property in the region.
“Mana Lodge is iconic and hard to beat, but we've had other sales over $3m. A four-year-old, four bedroom house on 10 hectares on Swamp Road, Fernhill sold for $3.4m, while six hectares with a little two-bedroom cottage sold for $3.82m on Te Mata Mangateretere Road, Havelock North.
“There are a lot of people coming into the region, and now there'll be more. We could do with more properties at that price bracket.”
The property stretches over 18.6ha of Hawke’s Bay land and has an RV of $4.2 million. Photo / Supplied
