A waterfront Spanish-style villa in Auckland’s Herne Bay has sold for just over $24 million to ZURU billionaires Nick and Matt Mowbray, OneRoof can reveal.
The sale of the tired 1940s home on Marine Parade was brokered in early spring, with the New Zealand Herald reporting that the Mowbrays intend to build something new on the 3000sqm-plus site.
OneRoof understands the sale was completed by Graham, Andrew and Ollie Wall, of Wall Real Estate. However, when contacted by OneRoof Graham Wall refused to comment, saying his clients depended on his discretion.
The property has a $23m CV, most of which is for the land.
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According to recent reports in the New Zealand Herald, Nick Mowbray and his partner Jamiee Lupton are also upgrading their mansion in Coatesville, which they paid $32.5m for in 2016.
The couple also announced in an Instagram post that they were expecting a child after suffering a miscarriage.
The $24m-plus they paid for their Marine Parade home is the highest for Auckland this year but falls short of the $40m-plus paid earlier this year for an estate in Queenstown.
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Wall still holds the Auckland record of $38.5m for the sale of the Hotchin mansion in 2013.
He told OneRoof last month for a feature in the forthcoming OneRoof Property Report that his agency, which he runs with his sons Ollie and Andrew, had sold three $20m-plus homes in Auckland this year, including a designer mansion in Burwood Crescent, Remuera, and a Whitford mansion that belonged to a wealthy American entrepreneur.
The third property he alluded to, a waterfront home in Herne Bay, which he said went for “well over” $20m, had a non-disclosure agreement attached to it so he could not reveal the address.
He also said at the time of writing that he was expecting to close the deal on another waterfront Herne Bay property, which would likely fetch “way past $20m”.
In his interview with OneRoof for next month’s Property Report, Wall said homes had taken a bit longer to sell this year but felt that the prestige market was generally unaffected by other market forces.
Herne Bay waterfront real estate is among the priciest in New Zealand. Photo / Chris Tarpey
“Ultra high-priced properties are selling for late tens, $20m and above. We haven’t seen any bargains.”
A reversal of the foreign buyer ban would “definitely” lead to sales over $40m in the coming months, he said.
He said that didn’t mean Chinese and Americans were going to turn up and buy all the properties, but it did give the existing luxury market more confidence knowing there will be more buyers in that league.
Wall said buyers at the top end of the market wanted unique properties, and often new, sometimes knocking down the existing house to build again (Wall knows of a house being built in Auckland which is likely to cost $40m).
According to OneRoof analysis, the Walls had listed in the 12 months from August last year three dozen properties on the open market, with the total value of their listings sitting at $298m.
Wall told OneRoof that he was proud his agency only comprised three selling agents and two support people.
“I've been around 20 years and with my two sons 10 years and once you get a bit of momentum and a reputation you’ve got to make a mistake for it to go wrong.”
Graham Wall, centre, with sons Andrew and Ollie: “Ultra high-priced properties are selling for late tens, $20m and above. We haven’t seen any bargains.” Photo / Fiona Goodall
The trio do advertise and you might see them on the occasional billboard but mostly the work comes to them. People call to tell them they have a $20m house to sell, or one they want to buy, Wall said.
“We get these deals done. People know us and trust us. The point of difference, I reckon, is we’re not like most real estate agents.
“We have no bulls***, we have no fear and we’re so accustomed to dealing in really high numbers that you just get better at it.”
Wall’s plan from day one was to sell at the top level. He hooked up with the late Roger Coles, who had a small agency in Parnell, and said an early sale was the house of his friend Colin Giltrap, the motor car goliath.
A modern, glass and steel mansion on Burwood Crescent, in Remuera, Auckland, sold for $20.6m in May 2023. The deal was brokered by the Walls. Photo / Supplied
This mansion on Strathfield Lane, in Whitford, Auckland, was sold by an American car enthusiast for $20m in February. The listing was with Wall Real Estate and Bayleys agents Angela Rudling and Michael Chi brought the buyer. Photo / Supplied
But his big lucky break came when he approached the Brunei Investment agency – the Sultan of Brunei’s finance arm – to ask if he could sell the sultan’s 12 houses in Auckland.
“They said ‘yeah, why not?’ That gave us a real kick-start in terms of being at the top of the market.”
And selling at the top of the market is a lot easier than selling at the bottom, Wall said.
“It’s seriously just easier because people are very sophisticated at that end and they’re not people that are going to say ‘where is the microwave and how many fridges?’ All the little detail bits that are hard work don’t even pop up.”
For 10 years, Huriaro Place, in Auckland's Orakei, has been New Zealand’s most expensive home when it sold for $38.5m. Photo / Fiona Goodall
The Coatesville mansion, formerly occupied by Kim Dotcom, was bought by the owners of ZURU Toys in 2016 for $32.5m. Photo / Supplied
These days investment banks call him up to ask for advice, Wall said. They might want him to find properties for clients, such as a recent call on behalf of a buyer willing to spend $20m or $30m for a property in the Bay of Islands.
“That doesn’t happen every day but at least once a month it happens.”
He knows a lot of wealthy people and has a lot of rich friends, saying he feels poor next to them when he goes on their jets and yachts. But, while he concedes to being quite a talker, he said discretion was all-important and he knows what not to say.
* Additional reporting by Catherine Masters
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