The sale of an Omaha home for $3.3 million just three days after the agent picked up the listing is a strong signal of renewed interest in the wealthy beach town north of Auckland.
Precision Real Estate agent Di Balich, who listed the four-bedroom house on Mangatawhiri Road at the beginning of the month, said she didn’t even have time to get photos taken before she was presented with two offers.
The 826sqm property, which backs on to the Omaha golf course, had a CV of $2.8m. The vendors bought it brand-new nine years ago for $1.2m, adding an outdoor fire, spa and landscaping to enhance the outdoor living.
Balich said the winning offer was from an Omaha local, doing the “Omaha shuffle”, with the under-bidder missing the price point in the exclusive enclave.
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She added that the shuffle was a common phenomenon in the town. “Locals understand Omaha benefits and prices more than outsiders do,” she said.
Open home attendances have grown in the past few weeks, but the agent is still seeing “silly” offers from “wishful thinkers”.
“There’s a build-up of buyers wanting to get into the area and they’ll miss out because they thought they could steal something.”
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Omaha has seen an uptick in listings in recent months, with 20 properties in the town for sale on OneRoof at the time of publication. The increase in choice is a turnaround from the situation a year and a half ago, when there was a drought of listings in Omaha.
The rise in stock levels hasn't had an impact on prices, although sales volumes are, like the rest of the country, low.
Balich said that prices, however, have been consistent for the last 12 months. "There’s been no sign of correction. This was a good price for the property, but outsiders are trying to educate themselves on prices and keep missing out," she said. “People are being decisive and not prevaricating now, like they were six months ago.”
Precision agent Di Balich is also listing a four-bedroom house designed by Herbst Architects at 19 Lagoon Way that has a CV of $2.85m. Photo / Supplied
Another house on the golf course, at 102 Mangatawhiri Road, has a price tag of $3.395m. Photo / Supplied
She said buyers were eyeing a “one back” listing of a Herbst Architects-designed four-bedroom house on 19 Lagoon Way, whose owner is considering offers over $3.9m, but she also had a number of high-end beachfront properties that were quietly on the market for prices up to $7m or $8m.
“These owners are selling mainly because of lifestyle changes – the kids are no longer using the bach, or they want to move to Queenstown or Wanaka. But because of the perceived market sentiment they don’t want to be seen to be marketing now."
She said there was “an awful lot of money sloshing around” but some buyers “think they’re smarter and will wait. They don’t want to pay what they think of as ‘too much’ in this environment.”
When the market picks up, she said “they’ll be competing again as stock will be reducing, buyers increasing, choices diminishing, therefore competition and prices will increase.”
Other Omaha listings at the $3m-$4m price point include a three-bedroom house on 102 Mangatawhiri Road, also on the golf course. It is billed by listing agents Heather Walton and Rod Cheeseman, of Ray White, as having potential to add a fourth-bedroom or carve off an independent holiday let. The house, with a CV Of $2.65m, has a price reduced to $3.395m and is asking for offers before June 7.
Higher priced properties include a four-bedroom, absolute beachfront home at 43 Taumata Road, which is listed with Ray White agent Ross Hawkins, and a four-bedroom beachfront bach at 38 Rita Way, which is listed with Balich.
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