An impeccably renovated villa on Auckland's North Shore sold under the hammer on Thursday for $4.575 million.
It was a standout sale in Auckland's auction rooms this week, and showed there are still buyers who are willing to spend big money on the right property.
But it also highlighted how much the housing market had changed in a year. The sellers of the five-bedroom property on Calliope Road, in Stanley Point, bought it in March last year for $4.42m. The gain of $155,000, while a success in today's cooling market, does point to the risk of quick resales.
Bayleys agent Victoria Bidwell, who brought property to auction both this year and last, said that for exceptional homes auction was still the best method of sale.
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She said there were two bidders on the day, compared to four last year (“but you only need two bidders to make an auction”), with the winners being locals who had been looking for over a year, although they had not tried to buy the home when it was last on the market.
“My vendors, who are leaving Auckland, were really pleased to get more than [what] they paid, as they’d bought when the market was nearing the peak. But for the right house in the right position, there’s always a market.”
Bidwell said interest in the house was huge, and she had a number of buyers who were hoping to make conditional offers if it hadn’t sold under the hammer.
A villa on a huge 1200sqm section finished to a high standard is still a rarity in the area so competition is high. Photo / Supplied
“It does establish where the real buyers are. There is no downside. If it doesn’t sell under the hammer there’s a conditional offer, although that’s taking a lot longer if [buyers] have to sell their house first.
“In this market it is good for buyers to have transparency, as they’re all scared of paying too much money.
“But I always say if you’re looking for the family home, you’ll probably stay quite some time and you might see a couple of up and down cycles in that time – so buyers don’t need to be short-sighted,” she said, adding that Devonport area had seen a number of good sales in July which will soon show up in the statistics.
Two other properties, also on the North Shore, did well under the hammer.
The near-new five-bedroom house on Castor Bay sold for $110,000 more than what the vendors paid in August last year. Photo / Supplied
A nearly new five-bedroom cedar and brick home on Beach Road, Castor Bay, fetched $3.61m after five bidders competed at auction.
It too had sold in August last year for $3.5m, at the peak of the market. It had a CV of $3.18m.
Barfoot & Thompson agent Daniel Qiu, who marketed the luxury property with Oscar Pan, said that houses of this quality are a rarity and interest was high, with over 40 groups viewing the property.
“There are still so many buyers looking for high quality property with budgets over that $3m. Some of them need to sell their own properties.
“Good quality product in Castor Bay, Milford, Takapuna still has demand,” Qiu said.
A first-home buyer scored a run-down three-bedroom unit on Verbena Road, Birkdale, for $770,000, against professional flippers. Photo / Supplied
The flat was billed as a fixer-upper, saying the owner of 40 years preferred fishing to renovation. Photo / Supplied
At the other end of the price spectrum, a lucky first-home buyer scored a 1970s three-bedroom brick unit on Verbena Road, Birkdale, for $770,000.
Ray White agent Damian Piggin, who marketed the run-down end unit with Chris Lewis, pitched the property’s owner of the last 40 years as “a man who preferred fishing to renovation”, accompanied by pictures of crazy 1970s wallpapers and floors stripped of coverings.
He said the roomy flat with a third downstairs bedroom and bathroom, large garage and gardens, attracted over 50 groups of buyers, a mix of experienced house flippers and first-home buyers looking for good bones – although many were hoping to snap a bargain for around $600,000 to $650,000.
A smart one-bedroom flat in a block designed by 1960s architect Vlad Cacala in Freemont Street, Parnell, sold for $619,000. Photo / Supplied
Seven bidders registered, many of them blown away after bidding quickly passed that mark, and the place sold for $770,000, just $70,000 below its CV.
More bargains were to be had at a Barfoot & Thompson auction when a one-bedroom apartment in the Vlad Cacala-designed Freemont apartments on Freemont Street, Parnell, sold for $619,000.
Barfoot & Thompson agents Cindy Yu and Ian Griffiths said the apartment owner had held the place for 33 years. A modernist four-bedroom home by the same architect on Victoria Avenue, Remuera, sold earlier this month for $4.62m.
