A huge block of land in South Auckland that’s home to the popular St Margarets Café has sold under the hammer for $6.125 million – more than one and half million dollars above its 2017 CV.
On the market for the first time in 33 years, the 2.4ha property at 6 Dyke Road, in Karaka, was pitched as a development opportunity by Bayleys agents Shane Snijder and Stefi Baigent.
READ MORE: Find out if your suburb is rising or falling
The property, which is zoned mixed housing and commercial and is in an area identified for future development, was fiercely fought over by seven bidders at Bayleys’ auction on Tuesday.
Start your property search
Snijder said the winning bid was made by a high net worth individual who planned to bank the land and find new tenants for St Margarets Café.
“We didn’t think it would reach that price but we are very pleased, so is the vendor,” he said.
The vendor, who established St Margarets Café as a popular restaurant and wedding venue, had put the property up for sale after deciding to retire.
6 Dyke Road offered buyers 2.4ha of developable land.. Photo/ Supplied
Snijder said developers were prepared to pay big money for developable properties in growth zones.
“Anything with a lot of land in South Auckland is very popular. [This area] will have the right infrastructure in the few years,” he said.
Another listing with development potential, but on a smaller piece of land, also fetched top dollar at the same auction.
5-7 Mt Albert Road, in Mt Albert, in central Auckland, was picked up by a developer for $6.725 million – $1.1million above the reserve.
The listing agent, Angela Yang, said she was surprised by the high sale price. “I didn’t expect it to go the way it did,” she told OneRoof.
Together, the two properties offered buyers about 1900sqm of land zoned for terrace housing and apartments in a popular suburb where the median value has grown 20% in the last year.
5 and 7 Mt Albert Road, in Mt Albert, Auckland, was bought by a developer for $6.725 million. Photo / Supplied
Yang had the listing for just one of the properties to begin with but then the neighbour approached her about selling the two together.
“I’ve seen joined properties sell really well together and I believe having a joined section helped to achieve such high price,” she said, adding that there were buyers out there who were crazy about joined sections with subdivision potential.
Both addresses are home to large houses typical of the area. 7 Mt Albert Road boasts a four-bedroom 1920s-built single-storey home with double garage while sitting at 5 Mt Albert is a two-storey, four-bedroom house with many of its original features intact.
The combined CV for both properties was $3.03 million and competitive bidding at the auction showed the strength of demand for developable land in the city.
