$5.55m sale in Royal Oak leaves everyone gasping

In a suburb where the median property value is $1.25 million, a sale price of $5.55 million is “unheard of”.

The bidding action on two neighbouring brick and tile homes in Royal Oak, in Auckland, left everyone at Barfoot and Thompson’s auction last week gasping.

The modest three-bedroom properties at 23 and 23a Turama Road – which sit on a combined 1367sqm site zoned for Terrace Housing and Apartment - were snapped up by a developer who plans to demolish them.

The listing agents, Wendy Sadd and Justin Coleman, told OneRoof there were four active bidders in the room competing to secure the properties.

“It was a massive sale that left everyone gasping in the auction room,” Sadd said.

“With terrace house zoning the options are unlimited.”

Both properties were owned by the same vendor, who had decided to sell after being blown away by the $4.45 million sale of a neighbouring property.

OneRoof records show 23 Turama Road, Royal Oak, had last changed hands in 2008 for $640,000 and that 23a Turama Road had last sold in 2018 for $1.3 million. That would mean a profit, on paper at least, of $3.61 million.

Sadd said the demand for development properties in Royal Oak was huge, with developers prepared to pay a premium.

“The higher the density, the more property you can put on there, the more houses you can create and sell. The zoning is a driving force for it.”

She said there was only one other property zoned for townhouses and apartments left on Turama Road, and in a few years the neighbourhood would look decidedly different.

“More and more land is sub-dividable in different ways and it’ll just continue on this way," she said.