The owners of a 1990s Remuera do-up got a pleasant surprise when they ended up pocketing half-a-million dollars more than they had been expecting for their home of 19 years.
The auction for the Benson Road property is one of a number of brought-forward auctions in the last few weeks and was held last Thursday after the vendors accepted a pre-auction offer of $2.95 million for the five-bedroom, three-and-a-half-bathroom family home.
But when it came to auction day, nine registered bidders showed up to battle it out for the 1990s home in the coveted double Grammar zone.
The price soared past the opening bid, which was also the pre-auction offer, and after 28 bids eventually sold for $3.511m. It was also in excess of its RV of $3.3m.
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Bayleys listing agent Wei Wei Elder said it was a phenomenal turnout.
“It’s a good result – another half a million more for the owner,” she said.
“In today's volatile market, generally at an auction there are none or one [bidder]. And normally most of my auctions – I have to say, I’ve done quite a few recently – have three or more and this one is huge.”
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All the interested parties had been planning to renovate the dated house and several had even considered recladding the top where there was plaster and no cavity.
Most of the buyers had been families wanting to buy for the school zones and one couple wanted to downsize to be near the café scene.
But in what was a relatively uncommon move, Elder said, the property was actually purchased by an investor.
“Most of them are looking for double Grammar zone, but the one who bought it is not fussed about double Grammar zone,” she said.
“They are going to renovate the whole thing and then see what they are going to do to it.”
The owners had already bought a new, larger house through Elder and were extremely happy with the outcome, she said. As a result of the impressive auction she had been contacted by other homeowners asking for appraisals.
Bayleys national auction manager Conor Patton said the Remuera sale was one of a number of properties around the country that had their auctions brought forward due to pre-auction offers being accepted in the last two weeks.
Of all the Bayleys properties that sold at auction last week, half were brought-forward auctions.
Most of those interested in the Benson Road home were families looking to get into the prized double Grammar zone, but the buyer turned out to be an investor. Photo / Supplied
A home on Roseberry Avenue, in Birkenhead, Auckland, sold after the vendors accepted a pre-auction offer. Photo / Supplied
While the Benson Road property was the definite stand-out in terms of the number of bidders and the selling price exceeding the pre-auction offer, a further 30% to 40% had additional bidding.
“That was in Auckland, Northland, Hamilton, Canterbury, down south as well so right across the country we have seen an uptick in brought-forward auctions.”
Other brought-forward auctions this week included an architecturally-designed home on Kerikeri Road in Kerikeri that sold for $2.3m and a three-bedroom, two-bathroom homestead on a 3-hectare lifestyle block on Kauaeranga Valley Road near Thames that fetched $800,000.
Patton said there had generally been more buyer activity at the start of this year compared to the end of last year and those buyers seemed more willing and able to act.
“They want to know, are we in for a shot on this or are we going to move on, I guess is the mind-set some people have had.”
Some had already sold maybe even a while ago and were now feeling like it was an OK time to buy, he said.
Harcourts national sales manager Shane Cortese had also noticed a number of pre-auction offers being made including one recently on a property at Roseberry Avenue in Birkenhead and several others in Tauranga.
Cortese said if someone had found a property they wanted then making a pre-auction offer was not a bad idea as it gave other potential buyers less time to get ready.
“If you find a property you like and you love, put in a pre-auction offer and bring it forward and ascertain whether it’s the right value or not, but maybe have a little bit of a war chest as well just in case.”
While some people accepted the offer and withdrew the property, the majority of auctions were brought forward and held within a few days of the offer being accepted. He personally felt this was the best option.
“Some owners are withdrawing, but the majority are bringing forward the auction to ascertain whether that indeed was the right level. That seems to be a pretty good thing to do at the moment if that offer is there or thereabouts.”
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