An uptick in the Auckland housing market means buyers are picking the market has bottomed out, agents and auctioneers have told OneRoof.
“No one ever rings a bell and says the market is on its way up,” said Harcourts Cooper & Co auctioneer Shane Cortese.
“Whether the market has bottomed out yet, well we only see that on the way up. But we’re definitely seeing more confidence,” he said, adding that in February and March there were often no bidders for a property, but by June that had turned to three or more for some properties.
“People are saying ‘okay, I can go unconditional’, banks are lending and prices are not ridiculously high. You can get a decent price for both parties, both parties walk away smiling.”
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Cortese said that properties that sell at auction generally get a price premium over non-auction properties, and vendors are satisfied that the price achieved under the hammer is the best market price.
“The numbers have to follow the mood, we’re seeing that,” he said.
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The sale of a tired two-bedroom brick and tile granny flat in Gladys Avenue, Glenfield is a case in point.
Last week the two-bedroom cross lease property marketed by Harcourts agent Helen Shaw resulted in a brought forward auction after less than a week on the market.
“We listed on the Friday, had 30 parties through the first open home on the weekend and by the Monday night we had five pre-auction offers to present to our vendors on Tuesday. We brought the auction forward to Thursday and had 10 bidders.
“We started at $560,000 and it sold for $610,000,” she said. The unit had a CV of $750,000 but was a complete do-up, so her vendors were happy with the price.
Buyers were a mix of first home buyers and professional investors and renovators, Shaw said. The twist was that eventual winner, a first home buyer, hadn’t planned on buying the home, and was at the auction for another property.
“He had his eye on something else, but just happened to look at this. He rang his wife up to tell her he’d bought the house, she hadn’t even been through. He has some skills, so they’re going to do it up and live there.”
Shaw said a lot of first home buyers were put off by the amount of work required, looking, at most, for places that needed just cosmetic renovation while some professionals were still worried about delays on getting building materials and the impact that might have on their holding costs.
Her buyer will do well, Shaw said, pointing to an immaculately renovated unit on the same street, with a carport, that sold at auction in May for $725,000.
“Now we’re short of stock. The market is changing, there is too much interest for [buyers] to wait.
“People are talking about FOMO, I’m seeing a change at this price point. They want to transact, they’re not sitting back and waiting,” Shaw said.
Sam Steele, head auctioneer for Ray White agrees, saying that this July is shaping up to be busier than July last year, after a growth in June.
A relocated villa at Springfield Road, Western Springs, had 90 groups viewing and eight bidders before selling at auction for $1.735m. Photo / Supplied
A three-bedroom villa in Georgina Street, Freemans Bay, sold after multiple post-auction offers. Photo / Supplied
“June this year saw 35.5% of listings listed as auctions, compared to 27.6% in June last year and average registered bidders are up 47%. Auction rooms are busier,” he said, although the bubbling sense of FOMO he’s seeing is nowhere near the sort seen at the end of 2021.
“Buyer sentiment is that if we’re not at the bottom [of the market] then we’re pretty close. Buyers’ feeling is that they’d rather buy now than wait another six months.”
A property brought to auction this week by Ray White’s Charlotte Kofoed, Greg Nelson and Hamish Kofoed in Springfield Road, Western Springs certainly had the crowds ready to act, with 90 groups through the open homes and eight registered bidders at the auction this week. Charlotte Kofoed told OneRoof that the tidily renovated four-bedroom villa, relocated to a 492sqm section in the early 2000s, resonated with buyers looking for a more affordable suburb close to the city.
“We had interest from Herne Bay and Grey Lynn, as well as Morningside and Western Springs, and people who’d missed out in Westmere or Point Chev. Because it was relocated, the house was all recently done, but had quite artistic, quirky features,” she said.
The buyer, recently returned from overseas, had been looking through the inner circle of suburbs. Bidding opened at the pre-auction offer of $1.61m but vigorous bidding – some in lots of just $1000 and $500 – brought the hammer down at $1.735m.
While that was less than the $1.975m CV, Kofoed said the buyers and sellers were happy with the outcome.
“Stock is tight, so now is a good time [to sell] because buyers are so decisive, they are stretching themselves and not walking away. The desire to make a decision has come back, so that gives us competition compared to March and April.”
Bayleys agent Annabel Marshall, recently sold a hard-to-find three-bedroom, two living room house in Georgina Street, Freemans Bay, after it passed in at auction in May for $1.72m. She said 70 groups viewing the property and multiple post-auction offers pulled the price up to $2m, close to the owners’ expectations for the house with a CV of $2.425m.
She’s seeing a change in buyers who are combing the city fringe suburbs from Mount Eden westward.
“People just want to get on with it. The fear has gone from last year and people see a lot of opportunities to buy.
“These blue-chip locations will move up faster than the rest of Auckland, and there’s a lack of stock.”
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