- Batger House, a heritage villa in Mount Eden, is up for mortgagee sale, less than two years after selling for $4.55m.
- The five-bedroom home features carved kauri panelling, ornate ceilings and period wallpaper.
- Mortgagee sales have risen, with 235 in the year to June, the highest in six years.
One of Auckland’s grandest homes has hit the market as a mortgagee sale.
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Batger House, a heritage-protected villa built in the 1890s, is heading to auction next month, less than two years after it sold for $4.55 million to buyers looking for a family home.
The listing for the five-bedroom home at 358 Mount Eden Road, in Mount Eden, declares it to be "the most beautiful villa we’ve seen", highlighting its history and its status as a Category 2 historic building.
The listing photos show only the outside of the house, although Barfoot & Thompson agents Philip Davis and Ari Tidyman mention in their marketing that it has "rare character features such as carved kauri panelling, ornate ceilings, bygone wallpaper, a viewing turret, and an immaculate façade".
The heritage home sits on a prominent corner site. The current listing shows only the exterior of the building, not the interior. Photo / Supplied
There are no open home times mentioned in the listing. Instead, the agents are encouraging "interested parties" to contact them.
The agents declined to tell OneRoof why the mortgagee was selling the property.
The landmark property, which has an RV of $4m and sits on a prominent 1341sqm corner site, last hit the market in May 2023. The same month OneRoof ran a profile of the house and its vendor.
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The vendor, Mark Townsend, told OneRoof that he bought the house with his late wife Del in the late 1980s and spent the subsequent decades bringing it back to life and extending its footprint.
Townsend said he studied the home’s original features and set about recreating many of them in the new extension. “I found a clever man in Onehunga who was able to make copies of the figures that are found on the friezes throughout the rest of the house,” he said, adding that he obsessively matched paints and finishes to ensure the home’s cohesion.
He said that the couple wallpapered most rooms with period-appropriate patterns – including designs by Victorian artist William Morris, and devotedly looked after the hand-painted ceilings in the main lounge, which evoke a sense of the magnificent Sistine Chapel in Rome.
The listing photos from 2023 show what the interiors looked like back then. Photo / Supplied
The home’s rich heritage was carefully and painstakingly preserved. Photo / Supplied
Period wallpaper, including designs by Victorian artist William Morris, was a key feature of the home in 2023. Photo / Supplied
Townsend’s listing agent, Barfoot & Thompson's Leila MacDonald, was also the listing agent when he bought the property. “I remember how funny it was because Mark and Del made their best offer to the previous owner, and he said it was $5000 too much and instructed me to go back to them with a reduced price. It’s the only time something like that has happened in my entire career,” she told OneRoof in 2023.
Mortgagee sales have been steadily rising, despite falling interest rates, with data for the 12 months ending in June this year showing 235 mortgagee sales, the highest in six years.
Mortgagee sales of high-value properties are still a rarity in the market, although there have been some forced sales of high-profile multimillion-dollar homes in recent months. In June, OneRoof reported that a stylish Arts and Crafts mansion, which had originally been listed for almost $6m, sold for an undisclosed price in a mortgagee sale.
Banking Ombudsman Nicola Sladden previously told OneRoof that homeowners with mortgage woes should contact their bank immediately and explain their circumstances.
She said it was better to find a solution other than a forced sale because the mortgagee sale process was a long and painful one, which could have debt obligations beyond the house being sold.
Sladden said banks did not want mortgagee sales any more than the owners, and there were steps involved along the way, including a letter of demand from the bank.
She said people should talk to their bank at each step and get other support, such as from a financial mentor or budget adviser.
- 358 Mount Eden Road, Mount Eden, Auckland, goes to auction on November 5
