A four-bedroom 1970s timber home in Auckland’s Remuera sold to a developer last month for $6.9 million – $1.6m less than its CV.
OneRoof understands the buyer hasn’t finalised his plans for the 3190sqm Warrington Road property.
Barfoot & Thompson agent Dermot Kelly, who marketed the property with colleague James Doole, said the property was down a right-of-way at the bottom of a cul-de-sac and on what developers call “flabby” land.
“Flabby is where there’s land that they can’t use,” he said, meaning the property’s $8.5m CV was largely irrelevant.
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“Developers wouldn’t value it, so from a price per square metre [it’s worth less] than a flat site which is all usable land.”
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Kelly said that there had a lot of interest from buyers, ranging from families attracted to the garden oasis the owners of 45 years created on their bush-edged land to land-bankers looking for projects.
The site, while large, is zoned for single houses but the agent said some buyers were looking at carving the land into three or four titles.
“One party was looking to purchase it to maybe convert to just three sites, build a nice home for themselves and chop off two other sections. It would still need resource consent, it’s a little bit of work.”
He added that developers were still looking for good land in the blue-chip suburb, as so many properties had good houses that were too valuable to bowl.
“They’re looking two to five years ahead. What I’m hearing a lot is that they want simple, ideally a corner site with services. They’ve taken a real pounding in the last three or four years – their cost of business has gone up astronomically and there’s a cost risk with civil works.”
The land has potential to be carved into three to five sites, although some of it is covered in bush with a stream running through it. Photo / Supplied
The immaculate gardens are protected by bush which ensures privacy. Photo / Supplied
The buyer, represented by Barfoot & Thompson agent Sylvia Lu, is an investor who has no immediate to develop the property, which he will take ownership of in August next year.
“He only wants to buy in the good areas because they keep their value,” Lu said, adding that because of the slope and stream about a third of the property would not be usable.
“At the moment he’s got no idea what his plans are. It’s a long settlement and he’s got another project to do.”
Lu said that she still had developers looking for land in good spots, but many of the big plots currently on the market in Remuera had single house zoning or houses that could not be removed to build more homes on the land.
Kelly said the vendors would have liked more money but understood the value of the deal.
With colleague Alex Baker, he is currently listing another pair of sections carved off a property at 21A Bell Road, Remuera that has been in the same family for 70 years. The 499sqm bush-edged site is priced at $849,000 and comes with a driveway and services already in place.
The neighbouring 438sqm property, asking $849,000, is already under contract and awaiting titles to be issued, Kelly said.
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