The former convent estate on Victoria Avenue, in Auckland's Remuera, sold last month for $12.38 million - reaping the owner a $1.68m profit in 16 months.
Agent Michael Boulgaris re-listed the 2819sqm property in April this year, after it had been sold by the Sisters of St Joseph Cluny in March 2021 for $10.7m.
The former kindergarten went back on the market after the buyer found it “surplus to his requirements”, Boulgaris said, adding he could not disclose more details on the vendor, who has moved overseas.
The buyer, an expat Kiwi returning home, who made a cash offer for the property and has already settled, intends to build a luxurious family home on the site.
Start your property search
“It was one of those overseas buyers that everyone hopes for, who flies in and writes a big cheque,” Boulgaris said.
The buyer is already researching architects for the project and Boulgaris estimates that a new-build of this caliber would cost $6m to $8m and would be likely include eight-car garaging “for all the toys”, pool and tennis court.
“I sold over the road for just under $20m, but this could end up being a $20m to $30m house.
The 2819sqm former convent and kindergarten grounds have a westerly aspect on a significant street frontage on Victoria Avenue. Photo / Supplied
“It has the longest street frontage, a high profile and will be a house that will be admired. It’s just a dream. It will hold the integrity of Victoria Avenue that quite frankly has been raped and pillaged over the past 20 years.”
Boulgaris said he had appraised the property for a lot more before it sold the first time so was confident it would fetch more than $12m. In the first two weeks he had at least half a dozen offers from developers who had missed out last year, eventually fielding four tenders for the property.
Boulgaris, who is still struggling with his health after a horse-riding accident a year ago left him with permanent spinal damage, said he is “working against the odds, but I love my job so much.”
“To get the chance to sell this a second time around, God works in mysterious ways.”
74 Victoria Avenue in Remuera, Auckland, last sold in March last year for $10.7m. Photo / Supplied
The sale comes after a handful of eight-figure deals were sealed around the blue-chip suburb.
A four-bedroom mansion on Arney Road, which had a CV of $12.5m, sold in June for an undisclosed sum.
Barfoot & Thompson agent Leila MacDonald, who marketed the renovated 1900s home on 1416sqm on one of Remuera’s premium streets with David Macdonald, said confidentiality clauses prevented her from mentioning the price.
“We believe this to be the highest sale for this year in Remuera,” she said. “We had a lot of interest, and offers right from the first week it was on the market in April.”
A mansion on Arney Road, with a CV of $12.5m, sold in June for an undisclosed sum believed to be the new Remuera record for 2022. Photo / Supplied
Earlier the vendors had told OneRoof that they spent two years rebuilding the 495sqm villa, adding modern security, upgraded kitchen and bathrooms, replacing kauri joinery and building a huge covered loggia that makes the most of the views.
MacDonald said that although she’s seen many ultra-luxurious homes during her years in the business, the Arney Road one was in a class of its own, situated on “quite possibly the best site in Remuera”.
“The elevation is incredible, and the views are so vast.”
MacDonald said that she had buyers with budgets of $8m to $12m “waiting and waiting” to secure their family home, but not much choice.
“Most people are quietly looking. We say that the market will change, prices for these houses will go up again. There’s not that much to choose from and these prices will never go down.”
Barfoot & Thompson’s Remuera manager, Carolyn Vernon, said that there were increasing numbers of high-end vendors wanting to sell their properties off market.
“They want quiet sales. In this market you need experienced sales people who’ve been in it for a while. Selling off market only limits your buyers if you’re a small company, but in a bigger office network we’d have at least a dozen agents who work in that high, high end,” Vernon said.
A five-bedroom mansion on Arney Road sold after just two weeks on the market for more than its CV of $9.8m. Photo / Supplied
“In the luxury sector, while inventory is low and sales volumes down, property prices continue to hold, and in fact, climb,” she said, pointing to 13 sales of properties worth over $4m in Remuera for the quarter ending June, after 14 in the first quarter to March 2022.
Barfoot & Thompson agent Cici Wang, who introduced the buyers to the property, said many of her clients have open briefs that amount to “keep an eye on the northern slopes of Remuera, anything over $10m”.
“We can have very picky buyers shopping around. I might give them a whole list and they only choose only two properties to look at,” she said.
In early July, Bayleys agents Vicki, Gary and Andrew Wallace sold another immaculate five-bedroom villa, on 1447sqm on Arney Road, after just two weeks on the market.
Again, the price is confidential, but Andrew Wallace told OneRoof it went for above its CV of $9.8m.
“It was a short and sharp campaign, but we had phenomenal response from the market. It was a true trophy house, on the ridge with protected views, it was a must-see.
“We wish we had 10 of those to sell,” he said.
The neighbouring 1960s-built home sold at auction just after lockdown in May 2020 for an impressive $8m. Photo / Supplied
Its neighbour on the cliff-top on Arney Road hit the headlines in May 2020 when it sold for $8m at auction just after Auckland’s first lockdown. That property had been carved off the older section, and had a 1960s home on a 1489sqm cliff-top site overlooking Hobson Bay.
In the nervous market, the 130 groups who inspected the property and 18 bidders at auction were an early signal of the galloping recovery of the property market that would take until late 2021 to peak.
- Additional reporting Louise Richardson
