Mum and dad land-bankers are among those competing for scarce listings in Auckland’s eastern bays suburbs.
New Bayleys St Heliers manager John Wills says while developers are also looking for big backyards they can put town houses on, mum and dad buyers want to secure their futures - but the shortage of supply is problematic for everyone.
Wills says his sought-after patch is an aspirational cluster of suburbs.
“It’s a little micro market where people don’t really move unless they’re stepping onto the next stage of their lives which keeps the supply really slow and that’s really the over-riding factor.
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“It’s all extremely tightly-held and we don’t see that changing any time soon.”
People still want to buy in the area, though. Wills says the fact people are getting more and more time poor is part of the attraction of St Heliers.
“They want with their homes and the locations of their homes to have as much convenience and lifestyle upside as possible and this little neck of the woods is 15 minutes off-peak to the CBD but also offers a great set of amenities and also has the beaches and the parks and all of the rest of it, too.”
His office has had two sales recently that have exceeded $5m, one of which was for a cliff-top home in Glendowie marketed by agent David Nightingale. Three bidders had competed to secure the property on Riddell Road, with the sale price $1.1m above the point it went on the market.
Other outstanding sales have included $2.2m for a two-bedroom bungalow on Emerson Street, in St Heliers, marketed by agents Evelyn Park and Michael McGregor. The 1960s house, which sits on a 741sqm section zoned mixed housing suburban, was pitched as a development opportunity and fetched almost $1m above its CV at auction.
This 1960s bungalow on Emerson Street, in St Heliers, sold for $2.2m. Photo / Supplied
And a two-bedroom house on a 948sqm section also zoned mixed housing urban development, on Radcliffe Street, in neighbouring Glen Innes, sold for $2.3m after only six days on the market. The property, which was marketed by agent Murray Wallace, had a CV of $1.28m.
Wills says one of the areas of highest demand is easy care, modern, architectural properties on a slightly smaller site which are selling in the $2.5m to $5m price bracket.
“Then you’ve got the younger families looking for probably a more modest home but on a bigger piece of land with an eye to the future,” he says.
“They might have future plans for a pool or a little bit of Kiwiana back lawn for the kids, and some of them are thinking ‘hey, if I own a large-ish piece of land now, what are the possibilities for that into the future?
“I guess it’s mum and dad-type land banking and it covers two bases. They’re in an area where their kids can kick a ball around and their kids can go to fantastic primary schools, but then in 10 or 15 years down the track when they’re ready to move on they’ve got an asset there with probably huge options wrapped around it.”
A cliff-top home in Glendowie sold for $5m at auction. Photo / Supplied
Properties in neighbouring Glendowie and on the St Heliers and Glen Innes fringe still offer big enough back yards for those sort of plans, Wills says.
And, like everywhere in Auckland, St Heliers has seen big price movement in the last 12 to 18 months since the post-Covid house price surge hit.
“It’s almost what was $2m a short time ago is now $2.7m-$2.8m. That sort of jump is happening, and nobody saw it coming.”
While families top the list of those wanting to move into the area, developers are also eyeing up 800sq m-plus sites for townhouses and they are often successful at auction.
“It’s not like the old days where the developers always needed to buy at a 20 per cent discount - they’re paying full retail, put it that way.”
They might remove a standard weatherboard house on the site and have plans to put two or more townhouses there.
