The Brownston St properties had not been publicly advertised but it was common knowledge the parish wanted to move the church to be near the new Holy Family School in Aubrey Rd.
The sale was confirmed yesterday by Otago-Southland diocese general manager Stuart Young, of Dunedin, and Wanaka church building-committee chairwoman Yeverley McCarthy.
Neither would disclose the purchase price, but agreed the amount was "in the vicinity" of $4.5 million and was "satisfactory".
The combined rateable value of the properties is $3.75 million.
Mrs McCarthy said the land had been bought by an Australian developer who had recently invested in two other central business district blocks.
She declined to give his name but agreed it was likely the new owner would land-bank his investments, pending submissions and discussions on Wanaka's town centre upgrade strategy.
The leased house and land at 78 Brownston St have been sold unconditionally.
Final possession of the church and land at 70 and 76 Brownston St has been delayed for two years to give the parish time to design and build a new church at Aubrey Rd, in front of Holy Family School.
Mrs McCarthy was appointed to chair the building committee yesterday, by Upper Clutha parish priest Fr Paul Mahoney.
The building committee will meet next week to start the design process.
Concept plans would come back for discussion and Mrs McCarthy hoped construction could be finished in time for Christmas 2010 or Easter 2011.
The cost of the project is not yet known.
The parish obtained resource consent about three years ago to build a new church and a presbytery on a teardrop-shaped piece of land in front of the school.
Mr Young said the decision to move the church was an undoubted wrench for some parishioners but Bishop Colin Campbell was very keen, for pastoral reasons, to have the church and school close together.
