Capital gains in New Zealand is a sodding mystery but if he sells it as is without attempting to develop the site I'd be surprised if he ended up paying tax. He will pay a fair wad to sell it assuming he goes through an agent.

His returns have been great and in the circumstances I think MacDunk gave the guy reasonable advice since he was apparently not the most financially savvy punter. However, 15%pa over the next 5 years is plenty ambitious and personally I think unlikely unless inflation gets back under control and immigration spikes again, and maybe even not then (That's +100% in the next 5 years Duncan).

Assuming they need access within 5 years for the kids then surely it's time to start looking at his exit strategy? Can anyone guarantee where the market will be over that relatively short time frame? The property market is due a breather if not a correction. The current round of interest rate belt tightening with a rising currency impacting the productive sector and falling immigration is likely to be something of a bellweather. While I'm not sure anyone need mention the "R" word at this stage the negative consequences of the boom cycle could take just 6 months or could take 3 or more years to play out which would put a lot of pressure on that section to perform in the last few months.

Even if he's restricted to $320,000 after agent fees and costs, that could earn a reasonable income for kids at University. With prudence there should be plenty left over for Mum and Dad to invest or use afterwards.