Auckland buyers paid nearly $10 million for a mansion they are unlikely to keep in its current form, OneRoof can reveal.
The four-bedroom home on Paritai Drive, in Orakei, which last changed hands in 1989 for just under $2m, was taken to market at the end of April by Barfoot & Thompson agent Lawrence Yuan.
He told OneRoof the buyers had been waiting for the right place to come up on the coveted dress circle for two years.
“They’ll renovate or bowl. They bought it for the view,” he said, adding that the buyers would end up having the “best of the best”.
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Yuan told OneRoof that in the last three-and-a-half years he had sold nearly $50m worth of property on Paritai Drive and neighbouring Huriaro Place.
“There’s a stretch of Paritai Drive, from number 40 to number 90, which everyone wants,” he said of the coveted dress circle that looks out to Rangitoto and Auckland Harbour.
Two of his most recent sales were next door to Auckland’s most expensive house, the mansion built by former financier Mark Hotchin which Chinese industrialist Shone Shi bought in 2013 for $38.5m.
The Paritai Drive property boasts clear views of Auckland Harbour. Photo / Supplied
The property last changed hands in 1989, for just under $2m. Photo / Supplied
One is an immaculate 1930s mansion, which sold for $20m in May 2022, and the other is a four-bedroom renovated home, which fetched $5.9m in May last year.
Yuan said he had a database of determined buyers, most of whom have New Zealand residency and wanted to live in New Zealand. They were all hunting for a north-facing house “both for the sun and good feng shui”.
“I have 25 buyers with budgets of up to $25m and they only want to look at Paritai Drive, or St Stephens Avenue, in Parnell, or Arney Road and Victoria Avenue, in Remuera.
“They don’t mind that Paritai Drive isn’t in double grammar zone because they send their kids to private schools. They want the view and the prestige. And they don’t have to sell the big family home in Remuera first. They have the money.”
The buyers who secured Yuan’s latest Paritai Drive listing had been very specific about where they wanted to live. However, landing the listing, which attracted multiple offers, had not been easy.
Tenders for an award-winning home at 8 Corunna Avenue, in Parnell, Auckland, close on June 5. Photo / Supplied
An Arts and Craft bungalow on nearly 4000sqm of land at 305A Mt Eden Road, in Mt Eden, Auckland, has an asking price of $9.38m. Photo / Supplied
“I was door-knocking [the vendors] three years ago. I just kept asking and my persistence paid off at the end of the day; they gave me the opportunity.”
Yuan said that buyers who missed out on the Paritai Drive mansion were already looking at one of his listings in Parnell.
The striking Fearon Hay-designed house at 8 Corunna Avenue, just off St Stephens Avenue, has a pool and sits on 933sqm of land.
Yuan, who is marketing the property with colleague Mae Zhang, said he expected it would sell for more than its $10.2m CV.
And he already has cash buyers lined up for an original Arts and Crafts bungalow, which he has listed for sale at 305A Mt Eden Road, in Mt Eden.
Although the property is zoned for development, Yuan said he had received strong interest from buyers who like the Mount Eden village vibe and plan to renovate or rebuild the original house.
The busy agent also has a cluster of off-market listings looking for between $10m and $20m. “If I had more properties, I could sell more. My buyers, they do international business but want to live in New Zealand. They have their whole family here.”
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