Mortgagee sale: Luxury estate linked to ex-Black Cap Adam Parore passes in at auction

A multimillion-dollar country estate linked to former New Zealand cricket star Adam Parore hit the auction floor today after it was listed as a mortgagee sale.

The six-bedroom trophy home on Papakura-Clevedon Road, Clevedon, was the home of Kiwi interior designer Danielle Francis, who was previously married to Parore.

Ray White Remuera auctioneer John Bowring told bidders in the room ahead of the auction: "It is a very different mortgagee sale to others we have had in the past. This one is absolutely outstanding."

Listing agent Cherry Kilgour added: "It is absolutely no surprise we had the interest here and on the phones today. We have had an amazing vendor who has co-operated throughout."

Bidding kicked off at $3m - $1.3m below the property's RV - and escalated to $4.1m before pausing for negotiations. It returned to the auction floor 20 minutes later at $4.125m and got another $25,000 before pausing again for further negotiations. Fifteen minutes later, it came back to the room at $4.2m, but even that sum was not enough and the property passed in.

Francis told OneRoof last month that the property was on the market because of a dispute with Parore and she had been advised to proceed with the sale and pursue recovery separately.

When contacted by OneRoof about the sale, Parore’s spokesperson said the parties were in dispute about their obligations under a relationship property settlement agreement.

OneRoof understands Francis and Parore were married about 2019 and split a few years later. This year, Parore got married for the third time, to property business owner Libby Price at a three-day wedding event at their Far North estate.

When the house at Papakura-Clevedon Road was first listed in November 2024, Francis told OneRoof she bought the property with its park-like grounds as an antidote to her jet-setting life in Sydney, London and New York.

“I did imagine this bucolic life, with winter fires and dogs, ponies and kids running in and out all summer – it’s been all that and much more. It’s been a magical and very memorable chapter of our lives,” she said at the time.

She said she had expanded and reimagined the property, with classic West Virginia barns as the inspiration. “I worked with a local architect to design the house – it’s all stone and wood and very generously proportioned, so it is very spacious and very comfortable.”

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“I wanted all the materiality to be solid and classic and for it to look like it was built 50 years ago.”

Francis, who worked at auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s and did a stint at London’s Serpentine Gallery before setting up her own business, drew on her love of art to bring the project together. “I studied art and architecture at university and have a Master’s in Art,” she said.

The six-bedroom, five-bathroom, 559sqm home is set on 7.95ha of rolling pasture and has many mature trees.

The home’s design includes a “rich palette of copper, cedar, Turkish travertine, Italian marble and French Oak”. Instead of open-plan, the home has cosy spaces and would work well as a family home, Francis said in 2024. The large country kitchen is the social hub of the property.

“I designed this huge kitchen island we could sit, work, talk and eat around. We have had many big family barbecues and dinners here, and the Clevedon market on a Sunday morning is our regular for the buffalo cheeses and the best produce,” Francis said at the time.

The mortgagee listing for Papakura-Clevedon Road was with Ray White agent Cherry Killgour. She declined to comment on the sale last month, but in her marketing, she said: “This is not a typical mortgagee sale. It’s a substantial holding with a distinct point of difference, offering buyers the opportunity to secure a property of genuine distinction.”

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