A South Auckland development site set the second highest auction record for Bayleys when it sold earlier this month for $16.8 million.
The country property of more than 3.5 hectares on Park Estate Road, on Hingaia Peninsula, south of Karaka and across the motorway from Papakura, had been in the same family for more than 30 years. It had a CV of $11.69m.
Bayleys agent Peter Sullivan, who marketed the property with Kristina Liu, said the owners had originally bought the tree-wrapped plot as an investment for their retirement. “It is one of the very few sites in this sought-after part of South Auckland that up until now hasn’t been tied up by developers,” he said.
Two bidders pushed the price up past its "on the market" number of $15.5m, with the eventual buyer an experienced local developer, Sullivan said.
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The property, zoned for suburban density, abuts the 97ha Park Green development master-planned by the Hugh Green Group that will eventually include around 1250 homes, with houses by Fletcher Living already underway. A new school is under construction and plans include a neighbourhood centre, walking and cycling trails around the Pahurehure inlet of the Manukau harbour. The new suburb is seven minutes from the Papakura train station, across the upgraded motorway crossing and already has infrastructure and development in place.
Buyers paid $13.2m for market garden land of over 4.4ha on the edge of Pukekohe on Rowles Road which is zoned for residential. Photo / Supplied
Sullivan said the buyers “are looking well beyond the current downturn in the market and have a lot of confidence in the future of this area. It is arguably the best development location in South Auckland.”
The price doesn't come close to Bayleys biggest ever auction sale back 2008 when the ground lease interest on the 2.9 hectare City Works Depot site on the block of Cook, Nelson, Wellesley and Sale Streets in the city sold under the hammer for $43.5m.
The sale comes as developers stretch the Auckland boundaries further south. Last year, Bayleys said, agents had sold over 61 hectares of land worth just over $100m on the edges of Pukekohe.
“Pukekohe, Tuakau and Waiuku get the spinoff from fast growth in places like Karaka; Pokeno’s doing its own thing,” Bayleys commercial and industrial agent Shane Snijder said.
Late last year, with Sullivan and Liu, he brokered a deal for a $13.2m sale for over 4.4 hectares on the edge of Pukekohe on Rowles Road which settled last month, making it Bayleys’ highest auction sale of 2021. The market garden land had been in the same family for 27 years, but was zoned for residential.
Lack of residential zoning isn’t holding buyers back.
Late last year, a 4.35ha site on the Pukekohe town fringe Victoria Street West, zoned for future urban growth, sold under the hammer for $9.66m, while east of town, near the new development of Anselmi Ridge, developers paid $78m for two future urban-zoned sites with a combined 48.7ha on Goldings Road.
Snijder earlier said he expects such land zoning on the outskirts of Pukekohe could be up for a plan review by Auckland Council between 2023 and 2027.
“Purchasers are happy to sit and wait until this happens, you’ll find they have a medium to long term view,” he said.
“It’s the classic property investment strategy of waiting for the development to come to you,” he said, adding it was a fine line to protect the valuable market gardening land close to town and for the city to bring infrastructure out to these areas.
In June, a 32ha market garden on State Highway 1 near Bombay sold at auction for $12.65m. Photo / Supplied
In June, Snijder, Sullivan and Liu sold a 32ha market gardening paddock on State Highway 1, near the motorway’s Bombay turnoff, for $12.65m. The deceased estate, which has a well-known fruit and vegetable shop on the highway, was billed by the agents as having “a multitude of investment options.”
Sullivan said development hotspots from Drury to Takanini were attracting competition, with young couples and families drawn to Takanini's train service, its good mix of housing, new schools and a brand-new village centre.
Late last year, developers paid $8.3m for a 5388sqm site on Great South Road, Takanini, currently a mix of older houses and a car yard, but zoned for urban density up to three storeys high.
Land with potential for more lifestyle living is also moving. Buyers paid $12m for nearly 30ha of land on Drury Hills Road, overlooking Drury, that had resource consent for 27 lifestyle lots and a $8.45m sale for 4ha-plus section at McRobbie Road, Kingseat, west of Karaka, came with a scheme for a 64-lot subdivision.
