Attendance at Auckland’s auctions might not be back to boom levels but it has definitely picked up in recent weeks, auctioneers in Auckland report.
This is partly due to more realistic vendors no longer expecting the high prices of the post-Covid surge.
Murray Smith, auctioneer for Barfoot & Thompson, told OneRoof: “The owners know they’re going to get 2023 prices; they are not expecting 2021 prices.”
He added: "I think everybody reads the newspaper and has known what has happened over the last year and a half or so and almost not wanting to believe, but now they do believe.”
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Smith said talk of some people being in financial pain was reflected on the auction floor, with little evidence of distressed sales in the agency’s call sheet.
However, buyers are piqued when there’s the whiff of a bargain on the slate. Last week, the mortgagee sale of a three-bedroom 1940s brick and tile house on Cambridge Terrace, in Papatoetoe, attracted strong bidding.
The 971sqm property, which was pitched as a development buy, sold for $1.201 million after 98 bids. The sale price was almost $150,000 above the point it was declared on the market and just below the 2021 CV of $1.25m.
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Smith was unable to say if a developer bought the property but said a colleague in South Auckland has seen developers back in the auction room after a hiatus.
Another buyer group back in the auction rooms is first home buyers.
A pre-auction offer of $610,000 brought forward the sale of a two-bedroom brick unit on Strong Street, in Saint Johns, but bidding from four first home buyers bidding against each other pushed the final price to $640,000.
A brick unit on Strong Street, in Saint Johns, sold for $640,000 – above the pre-action offer of $610,000. Photo / Supplied
A development property on Riddell Road, in Glendowie, sold for $1.76m. Photo / Supplied
“Four first home buyers in the room but principally fought out by two,” Murray said.
He said the property had a lot going for it: “Close to the city, close to transport – I always have this feeling Saint Johns is a little overlooked by people.”
Smith said it was a bit of a myth that first home buyers were unable buy at auction because they don't have their ducks in a row: “We still see first home buyers in the auction room week in, week out and they do buy because they've got the approvals that they need,” he said.
Another good auction result was an older home on Riddell Road, in Glendowie, where Smith said around a dozen people in the room were interested in buying the property. “It was an estate sale; it was a well-located property and a good address.”
The house sold for $1.76m, well below its CV of $2.75m, $200,000 of which was the improvement value, with the rest reflecting the value of the land.
A family home on Greenfield Road, in Epsom, sold under the hammer for $3.01m. Photo / Supplied
A three-bedroom bungalow on Renown Avenue, in Greenlane, was snapped up for $2.16m. Photo / Supplied
However, the marketing had said “disregard CV” and instead focused on the property’s development potential. “Something of an upgraded time capsule, the elevated home sits on a 665sqm parcel of land appropriately zoned to allow for developers to consider the options (with potential sea views if additional storeys are in the plan).”
Other properties attracting interest at Barfoot & Thompson’s auctions included a stylish three-bedroom home on Greenfield Road, in Epsom, which sold for $3.01m; a three-bedroom bungalow on Renown Avenue, in Greenlane, which sold for $2.16m; and a three-bedroom home on Balmain Road, in Birkenhead, which sold for $1.276m.
Barfoot & Thompson auctioneer Marian Tolich thinks auctions have improved because it has become a little easier to get finance, and also because of the ongoing shortage of listings which means more people are competing for properties.
“I think for May I had a 50% clearance rate which was up remarkably from 30%.”
A good result included Cleland Crescent, in Blockhouse Bay, where seven bidders drove the sale price to $1.285m, which Tolich said was a strong result for the vendors.
She said the property was what a lot of people wanted – a newish townhouse with four bedrooms and three bathrooms, and part of its attraction was it did not need renovating.
“I think people are scared of those renovating properties, you know, they're scared of how much it's going to cost,” she said.
Barfoot & Thompson auctioneers Murray Smith and Marian Tolich have noticed a pick-up in auction attendance. Photo / Fiona Goodall
Agents have reported a lot of buyer interest in 204 Remuera Road, in Remuera, which goes to auction this week. Photo / Supplied
But there are properties in good locations where people are still happy to renovate. One “out of the box” was a three-bedroom villa in need of renovation on Leighton Street, in Grey Lynn, which sold for $2.375m.
Along with its great location on the edge of Ponsonby, the property had a garage and off-street parking.
One to watch this week is the auction of 204 Remuera Road, in Remuera, a five-bedroom, four bathroom 1970s house on a corner site in the upmarket suburb’s “golden mile”.
The house, which has a CV of $5.4m, has premium views of the city skyline across the harbour to the Hauraki Gulf Islands, the Coromandel Peninsula and the Bombay Hills.
Ray White agent Ross Hawkins said anything could happen at Thursday’s auction. He said the views were almost unobstructed and the house below had a height restriction so the views were guaranteed: “They can’t have any trees or anything that goes up into that view line.”
The house, which has dual access and is in the school zones, has a substantial concrete basement and subfloor and there are two self-contained flats plus three car garaging.
The home, which the vendors have lived in for 35 years, could be left as it is, renovated or the whole property fully developed, Hawkins says.
“You'd never over-capitalise on the golden mile strip with Mount Hobson in behind it.”
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