Competition among house-buyers has intensified in Auckland during the Covid-19 lockdown, with just over one in ten auctions in the city attracting 10 or more bidders.
Auctioneers have told OneRoof that buyers are pushing hard and trying to get the jump on other bidders and secure a home before interest rates go up.
Barfoot & Thompson auctioneer Murray Smith told OneRoof that of the 275 auctions that the agency has held in the Auckland region since August 18, 37 - or 13% - had 10 or more registered bidders.
“In a live auction room if you get five bidders, that’s considered a good number. Even four bidders is a strong number, two or three still give you a good auction," he said.
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“These three weeks we have had 133 auctions with five or more bidders, 166 with four or more. We’ve had auctions with 16, 18 or 19 bidders.”
The top was an auction this week for a three-bedroom home in Auckland’s inner west Blockhouse Bay that had 29 online registered bidders - the highest Smith had ever seen - who pushed the price to $2.23 million.
20 bidders competed for a development site in Allenby Road, Papatoetoe, South Auckland, that sold for $1.92m. Photo / Supplied
Smith said the property appealed to developers as the 715sqm site close to the town centre already had resource and building consent for three standalone townhouses readied by the vendors, who had paid $1.205m for the 1960s three-bedroom house four years ago.
In May, a smartly renovated property on the same street but on a smaller site went for $1.504m.
Another South Auckland development property at Allenby Road, Papatoetoe had 20 bidders and sold for $1.92m
The three-bedroom 1960s house was on 916sqm zoned for suburban density, and had a council valuation of $990,000.
A South Auckland house on Gardiner Grove, Mangere East had 11 bidders. Photo / Supplied
“People are used to bidding online, it was already proven effective last lockdown. We’ve had 66,000 people sitting at home watching the auctions, from something like 28 different countries. I’m surprised how fast people have picked it up, we still have agents chatting to them and giving them support, but they’re bidding themselves.”
Tim Obern, director of independent Apollo Auctions, said that in 125 auctions from Whangarei to Christchurch, he had seen increasingly confident bidders driven by a need to get a jump on competing buyers.
Eight bidders competed for a nearly new house in Sarcodia Place, Papamoa, Bay of Plenty that sold for $1.405m. Photo / Supplied
“We’ve done $100m in lockdown sales. This week a house in Gardiner Grove, Mangere East had 11 bidders, eight of them active, and none of them had seen the property. It sold for $1.18m,” he said.
The three-bedroom 1960s house marketed by One Agency was on an attractive 675sqm site zoned for suburban development, and Obern told OneRoof that quite a few developers were buying without first seeing.
A house on Weymouth Road, Manurewa, sold for $1.351m after 15 bidders fought it out. Photo / Supplied
“We’ve had up to 18 bidders on some properties. Some of them are development sites, but some would be for first or second-home buyers too. A house in Papamoa went for $1.405m, it had eight bidders and sold to a buyer who hadn’t seen it in person.”
The smart four-year-old, four-bedroom house on Sarcodia Place, Papamoa, marketed by Circa Realty, had last sold in 2018 for $805,000, slightly less than its council ratings valuation of $850,000.
“This time around, people are saying ‘I have to do this, I have to buy before the end of the year’,” Obern said.
“They want to buy before interest rates go up next year, and they’re fearful of no stock. We might be looking at an October rush for the pent-up stock that didn’t get to market in July to September.”
At Ray White Manukau’s auctions this week, 15 bidders registered for a three-bedroom house on Weymouth Road, Manurewa, that sold for $1.351m. The 690sqm property zoned for urban density had a ratings valuation of just $620,000.
Eleven bidders were chasing another development site in Sutton Crescent, Papakura and after 103 bids the hammer came down at $1.566m - $916,000 above its council valuation.
Tom Rawson, principal of the Ray White Manukau offices, said despite lockdown, demand had been driven by buyers and sellers with a “genuine need to transact.”
“People are not letting the lockdown stop them from their intended plans, not knowing when we may be out of this lockdown, people have chosen to act,” he said.
