Five bidders who had never viewed the property pushed the sale price of a five-bedroom South Auckland house to $1.22 million.
The house in Ashton Avenue, Otara, went on the market on the first day of lockdown, so buyers had only drive-bys and paperwork to judge the house, which had a council valuation of just $670,000.
Ray White Manukau agent Levani Lum-On, who marketed the 1960s weatherboard home, knew that its 812sqm site in high density apartment zoning would attract developers who would eventually bowl the house.
“We had 10 to 15 buyers quite interested and five bidders, a mix of developers and investors. The eventual buyer plans to rent it out and hold on to it for a future landbank. I did have one person who was looking at a do-up to sell, but they knew they’d be trumped by developers.
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“The $1500 price per square metre is a record for Otara.”
The 812sqm property in Ashton Avenue, Otara is zoned for apartments or terrace housing. Photo / Supplied
The elderly owners, who paid just $285,000 for the house 11 years ago, are moving to Australia.
Both Lum-On and Adam Thomson, co-owner of Ray White Manukau, said family home buyers still had a chance to buy in Otara. Two other sales on the same street, one in May for $850,000 and another last month for $900,000, were to families, not developers or investors.
Thompson said that while auction sales were dominated by developers, most of whom didn’t need to view the property in person, plenty of other homes were selling by negotiation or agents were holding off auctions until buyers could inspect properties in person.
“About 50% of our buyers are still families,” he said.
In recent months two other similar houses on Ashton Avenue in Otara have been sold to family buyers. Photo / Supplied
“In Otara, it’s about one-third government, one-third investors and one-third family homes. It’s only in the last year that there’s been that development interest when they relaxed restrictions about water supply, previously there was not much activity.
“The growth is striking in Otara because pretty much all the houses were very similar in price range - $450,000 to $550,000 - compared to other parts of Manukau where some places were $2m, some $1m, some less.”
A property in Harwood Crescent, Otara, also zoned for development, passed in at $890,000. Photo / Supplied
Lum-On told OneRoof that developers were coming from all across Auckland to the South Auckland suburb as they had time to browse for property and do all their research online during lockdown.
He said demand was such that buyers quickly moved on. He is working with his underbidders to chase a similar Otara development property, a five-bedroom house on a 969sqm site zoned for apartments on Harwood Crescent, that passed in at Barfoot & Thompson’s auction at $890,000.
A three-bedroom house in Matamata Place, Otara, sold for $900,000. Photo / Supplied
“Vendors need to understand the market and have to be careful. You’ve got to think that not all properties will sell sight unseen.”
Another Otara property, a three-bedroom home on a 675sqm section zoned for density at Matamata Place, sold at a Barfoot & Thompson auction earlier in the week for $900,000.
