Two grand homes in Auckland's Remuera, one owned by rich-lister financier Martyn Reesby, have hit the market with eyes on buyers in the $15 million to $20 million-plus range.
The properties - a sprawling mansion on Victoria Avenue and a slightly smaller but no less luxurious house on nearby Arney Crescent - will test buyer appetite for high end homes, as the middle of the Auckland market struggles to find its footing.
There are just over two dozen luxury residences in Auckland seeking $10m-plus, eight in Remuera, and according to OneRoof settled sale figures, just 14 homes have been sold in the last 12 months for eight-figure sums.
The agents who have the listings for 120 Victoria Avenue and 42 Arney Crescent are confident the buyers are out there and have the money to spend.
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Bayleys' Gary Wallace, who is marketing 120 Victoria Avenue with wife Vicki, told OneRoof he was expecting interest in the property “well in excess of $20m”.
Wallace said: “Given comparable sales lately that’s what we see.
“In my 20 years selling real estate, I haven’t had the privilege of selling such an amazing home, no expense has been spared, everything is done on a sensational scale.”
The 1000sqm five-bedroom home and guest house, which sits on a 3234sqm site and is known as Cambridge Manor, last changed hands 18 years ago for $5.2m but has undergone almost $8m worth of renovations since.
The owners are rich listers Martyn and Jacqui Reesby. Martyn, one of Auckland's leading financiers, said the couple had spared no expense in upgrading the property.
“We never cared about the expense, I just wanted the absolute best,” he told OneRoof.
The Victoria Avenue mansion in Remuera has a tennis court, two swimming pools and a guest house. Photo / Supplied
“There isn’t a surface on the house that we haven’t touched, some twice, we’ve completely remodelled, extended, upgraded.”
But with the last of the couple’s three children having left the nest, they are now looking to sell.
“The boys grew up here and the house was set up for them. We put in a professional basketball set-up, re-astro turfed the tennis court, and added another swimming pool - a 25-metre outdoor one."
“I don’t know how many thousands of hours have been spent on the tennis court – although mostly cricket and soccer, everything except tennis,” Martyn said.
The owners spent $8m over 18 years refurbishing, renovating and updating the house, including this original pool. Photo / Supplied
The Reesbys made property headlines in 2019 when they bought a palatial retreat with vineyard on Waiheke Island - said to be one of the biggest sales that year.
120 Victoria Avenue was built in the 1990s by well-known retail family the Normans, owners of Farmers and Pascoes, out of double brick with a concrete in-fill (the sound-proofing is superb, Reesby says).
After initially plastering the exterior and later adding shutters, the Reesbys commissioned architect Matt Chaplin of Sumich Chaplin to refurbish the property over in a series of projects. They brought in blue-chip landscaper Suzanne Turley to overhaul the grounds, which include electronic systems for lights and watering.
A second 25m lap pool was added in 2018, with landscaping by Suzanne Turley. Photo / Supplied
Over the years they upgraded the pools, added a 140sqm guest house, completely rebuilt the kitchen and dining area and added an indoor/outdoor loggia room, made over bathrooms (there are six altogether, plus powder rooms), retiled the roof and upgraded all the technology (an ongoing project, Martyn noted).
“These are legacy properties that rarely come up. And when they do, they're quite private and stay in the family for years,” Wallace said.
Across in Arney Crescent, another of Remuera’s blue-chip streets, Ray White agents Ross Hawkins and Caleb Rufer are marketing a five-bedroom 496sqm house on a huge 2178sqm section.
Hawkins told OneRoof that he expected 42 Arney Crescent to sell for around $16m - good value for the quality of the house, he added.
“I say to people how long would it take to find a site like this? To design and build a home this good?
“It’s worth a lot to people to move in straight away, and not spend three years to go through the cost of building, if you could keep within budget or even get the supplies and products to create your masterpiece.
“Buyers at this level know what it could cost to do this today.”
The Arney Crescent house includes an Italian-style grassed swimming pool area. Photo / Supplied
The prominent Kiwi owner, who is now living in Sydney and wishes to remain anonymous, bought the house in 2014 for $12m.
She told OneRoof that her search for a large garden for her children to play on led her to the Patterson Associates-designed house that was built in 2010.
It too had grounds designed by Suzanne Turley that include an Italian-style swimming pool surrounded by lawn and indoor/outdoor terrace, with living areas wrapped in indoor-outdoor loggias.
“One loggia is for dining, the other is for the view across the Hauraki Gulf. But even though it is large, the house still feels intimate,” the owner told OneRoof.
“When you lie on the lawn by the pool with a book, you could be in a hotel in Italy. We’re in a sea of green.”
The owner re-decorated the Arney Crescent house, which has an award-winning kitchen, in a warm mix of textiles and stones. Photo / Supplied
She added: “The house has aged beautifully, it’s contemporary and modern, but not minimalist.
“My favourite is always the smallest room, a study upstairs off the bedroom that has a view of the pohutukawa.
“I never get attached to houses, but the children and I have found this a very hard house to leave.”
