More than ten years after the Christchurch earthquake, homeowners in the city who have yet to settle their insurance claims with the Earthquake Comission are still selling their homes “as is where is”.
Last week a prestige property in Fendalton sold at auction on that uninsured basis for $2.4 million - more than $600,000 above its RV.
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Bayleys agents Steve and Belinda Ellis, who marketed the four-bedroom property, say it sold to a buyer who is a savvy repairer of “as is where is” properties.
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"There are still a lot of properties that haven't settled with EQC and are still coming to market," says Steve.
"There are still easily 10 a month for sale, at price points anywhere between $500,000 and $3m."
The couple says six buyers, all from repair companies experienced in post-earthquake fix-ups, registered to bid. After an opening bid of $1.8m, the Clyde Road home then went to negotiations and sold for $2.4m.
“I’m not sure what they are going to do but there were a few people in the room who would repair and on-sell, some keep it as investment and landbank it or rent it in the future.
"But what they do with it will depend on the market,” Belinda said.
A four-bedroom home in Fendalton sold for $2.4m under the hammer, above its $1.785m CV. Photo/ Supplied.
The owners purchased the 2100 sqm property in 1994 for $542,000 to build a contemporary architectural house. After the earthquake they had all their EQC repairs done, but did not realise it was “slightly off level” until they were preparing to sell.
"They put a lot of heart and soul into it and are very happy their hard work won’t be pulled down, as a lot of people looking at the size of the site could have bowled the house down and build a new home,” Belinda said.
Once the levels of the house were fixed, it could sell for over $3m, she added.
“The minute you repair it, the value goes up.”
The couple says a lot of people in Canterbury have been buying ‘as is where is’ properties and tenanting them out without insurance or repairing them to a certain level to secure insurance.
“Someone could live in there very happily, it is a warm and a beautiful home to live in and it is very hard to see the damage, you just don’t see how anything can be wrong with it,” Belinda said.
Meanwhile, a much newer but smaller property south of Christchurch sold under the hammer for $745,000, with bidding starting at $600,000.
The 105 sqm home marketed by Bayleys’ Adam Hazelwood and Kurt Findley sits on a 1012sqm site in Huntsbury and had a rating valuation of $450,000.
