Two of Auckland's leading real estate agents sold their Remuera home at auction today for $7.105 million after they took a gamble on a revival in the housing market.
The new-build four-bedroom house, which the makers of Grand Designs NZ turned down for profiling, was snapped up within two weeks of hitting the market.
Ray White Remuera agents Steve and Nila Koerber said that 10 bidders had registered for the auction - a sign that the market in the suburb was picking up speed after a slow winter.
“My gut feel is that there have been so few homes on the market that buyers are just sitting on the sidelines waiting for a good home to come up. They’re ready to pounce,” Steve told OneRoof.
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The $7.105m price was reached after bidding paused at $7m for negotiations. Auctioneer John Bowring said the number was the highest price under the hammer this year for a residential property.
The Koerbers had brought forward the auction for the Market Road property without the safety net of a pre-auction offer.
Steve said the strength of interest proved the worth of auction campaigns to bring out the buyers. “A lot of agents and buyers aren’t brave enough to go to auction because they’re scared they’ll fail. But if we’d done this as an off-market deal, tapping our databases, we would absolutely not have brought in the buyers we had today," he said.
The Market Road property has a minor dwelling with five bedrooms in total, four bathrooms, a double garage and off-street parking. Photo / Supplied
In a satisfying twist, the buyers were known to the Koerbers. “I sold them their first house in Auckland 20 years ago, so we know them well,” Steve said. “But today the husband said to me, ‘Looks like you have sold us our last house, we’re not moving’.”
He added: “When it comes to an auction, you have to move fast to capture people’s attention and not lose any interest. About 50% of the buyers are cashed up, the others happy to do three-to-six-month settlements,” he said, adding that the February settlement date gives the couple one last Christmas in the house.
The Koerbers are not averse to taking a gamble.
They bought the 1400sqm Market Road site on the side of Mount Hobson in 2017 for $2.3m, demolishing the 1950s home there and re-siting their new home well away from the road up a newly laid driveway.
They had pitched the house to Grand Designs NZ at the start of the build process, only to be turned down: “We thought the house would be suitable for Grand Designs – which is the only TV show we ever watch,” Steve told OneRoof in 2020.
Nila said the house, designed by architect Megan Edwards, was amazing and they had a great story to tell. “We thought it was a great story. The house is amazing and is on the side of a hill. I am from Sri Lanka and grew up in a tea plantation on the side of a mountain - we thought they would like that sort of thing. But they wanted people who are more involved in the building. They said to us, ‘What are you going to do?’ We said, ‘Pay the bills’.”
Nila and Steve Koerber in the house in July 2020. They had pitched their ambitious build to Grand Designs. Photo / Fiona Goodall
Steve referred to the story of the house at the start of today’s auction, telling the bidders in the room about the couple’s first meeting with Edwards to discuss the design.
“Nila said she wanted zen. Megan looked at us both and said ‘you know zen is very expensive’. And it was.”
Edwards’ design uses a three-pronged pin-wheel shape with soaring ceilings and tall windows to capture lots of light and sun, and create what the Koerbers call their “Sydney Opera House effect”.
And although it did not make the grade for Grand Designs NZ it will be featured in a book by architectural photographer Simon Devitt.
