This week, auction rooms around Auckland and the rest of the country are run off their feet, with no sign of pre-election jitters.
Barfoot & Thompson called a whooping 92 auctions in one day yesterday with equally high bookings for the rest of the week. Ray White has 138 auctions scheduled nation-wide this week, up from just under 100 last week while Bayley’s auction figures for September are already up 35 percent on last year.
And around the country, Harcourts national auction manager Aaron Davis says that with 103 homes sold under the hammer last week, and another 569 auctions are booked for the coming month.
"It's all about momentum. The urban telegraph is working, the stories are starting to filter into the community.
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"Agents and vendors are saying we want to go to auction, because no-one actually knows the price any more," he says, adding that a recent sale under the hammer for $1.38 million was nearly $500,000 above what the vendor had previously decided was the acceptable price to go on the market.
A development property in the central city suburb of Royal Oak achieved one of the suburb's highest recent prices when it sold for over $3million. The highest previous sale this year for the suburb is $2.745 million and the median value $1.185 million, according to OneRoof Valocity data.
Barfoot and Thomspon auction manager Campbell Dunoon says 70 auctions were scheduled for South and East Auckland and another 22 for Auckland Central yesterday.
READ MORE: On the market at 10.30am, sold for more than $500K nine hours later
“It’s just taken off,” he says.
While it’s been historically a given in real estate that elections hold people back from selling or buying properties, this year is different Dunoon says.
“We’re busy for all of September and October and seeing numbers that we haven’t seen for quite some time. So, the election doesn't seem to affect our market, not in Auckland anyway.”
There’s also pend-up demand from level 2.5, which is adding to the auction list this week.
A three-bedroom home on 11 Crown Street will be demolished as the new owner has plans to develop the site. Photo/ Supplied.
Mainly first home buyers and investors showed up to 70 auctions in South and East Auckland, which shows the demand for suburban areas, Dunoon says.
“The suburbs are performing as well as inner city in terms of interest from the public,” he says.
Investor and developer demand in particular has not slowed.
A 828 sqm site at 11 Crown St, Royal Oak, achieved $3.025 million at auction, $1.4 million above CV. The Barfoot & Thompson auctioneer Murray Smith, who called the auction says he’s not seen a price over $3 million in Royal Oak before.
The property has zoning for terrace houses or apartments, and the agents marketing the property, Kam and Yogesh Dahya brought the auction forward after a pre-auction offer of $2.55 million.
44 and 44a Kelvin Road was sold to a developer for $1.6 million under the hammer on Tuesday. Photo/ Supplied.
In South Auckland five registered bidders pushed the price for a combined site at 44 and 44a Kelvin Road, in South Auckland’s Papakura to $1.6 million under the hammer, $400,000 above CV.
The developer buyer will demolish the two do-up homes on the large site and plan to start their project as soon as possible said the Barfoot and Thompson agents marketing the properties Anil Sharma and Mayank Jain. They understand up to ten townhouses could fit on the two sections on the1783sq m site, under the mixed housing suburban zoning.
There’s been a huge interest from developers in Papakura with previous property Sharma listed also selling to a developer.
“At the moment there’s a real shortage of listings and developers are out there looking for land banking because the interests are quite low, so it’s been one of the major factors for investors to buy properties,” he says.
Another development site at 18 Reagan Road, Manukau sold for $1.055 million, $200,000 over CV, while a 936 sqm property at 35 Angelo Avenue Howick went for $1.142 million, $157,000 above CV.
“There were 20 developers through the open homes,” says Barfoot & Thompson agent Lily Hung who marketed the Howick property, adding there is a lot of demand for the big sites.
