Downsizing boomers house hunting in Auckland’s eastern beaches are struggling to find their next place, according to one of the new stars of reality TV show Rich Listers.
Barfoot & Thompson agent Paul Neshausen, who is still filming luxury listings around Auckland for the show, said that this month buyers snapped up a $5 million-plus property before he had a chance to get it to market.
The four-bedroom home with a pool on Fern Glen Road, in St Heliers, was picked up in an off-market sale last week after failing to sell earlier in the year.
“The buyers saw it on a Sunday and it sold on Wednesday for mid-$5m," he said.
Start your property search
“These buyers had been looking for a while, they were just waiting for their perfect house – privacy, amazing views, amazing condition. They saw how little stock there is and moved.”
And on Thursday last week, a four-bedroom home on Auckland Road, also in St Heliers, sold the day after auction for $3.75m. The luxury home was pitched as ideal for downsizers as it was close to the beach with a guest suite and panoramic water views, Neshausen said, and that was who the buyers were.
Read more:
- Mansion flipped by rich lister entrepreneur finds new buyer
- $50m house sale is ‘just months away’
- Expats from China swoop in to buy ‘wow factor’ home for $6.2m
The agent told OneRoof that although he had eight or 10 houses coming to the market in the next six weeks, at price points ranging from $2.5m to $6m, most won’t be seen by buyers until after the school holidays and October election.
The big sales of earlier this year, nearly $8m on a house in Ronaki Road, Mission Bay, where buyers also picked up the adjoining section for a combined $11m sale, and Neshausen’s sale of a four-bedroom Palm Springs-style house on Pycroft Place for $6.35m, have not been matched over winter.
But later in spring might be a different matter.
Buyers are aware of the shortage of properties in the eastern bays in the lead up to the election, so are snapping them up early. Photo / Supplied
A house in Pycroft Place, St Heliers, sold in February for $6.35m, one of the top sales settled this year. Photo / Supplied
“There are maybe three or four places in that $10m to $15m that could come to market. Then they have to sell, so there is good incentive to wait to get the Chinese and foreign buyers.
“And there are a lot of people downsizing who want to find something that they like. A lot of well-heeled Kiwis are considering having a place in Australia or Europe or both, so they don’t need the big family home.
“People who are educated or well-advised think that the government will change,” he said.
Neshausen added that many of his eastern beach buyers were expanding their search to anywhere waterfront, looking as far away as Point Chevalier and Herne Bay, as well as Remuera or Parnell, because they couldn’t find what they wanted on the eastern bays.
“It’s a signal of how underplayed and under-serviced those high-end people are.”
Fellow Barfoot & Thompson agent Veronica Schoonraad, who in June sold a new four-bedroom mansion with garaging for 10 cars on Waimarie Street, St Heliers, for more than $11m, earlier told OneRoof that the eventual buyer was overseas-based moving to New Zealand, but two other buyers had missed out because of the foreign buyer rules.
She also sold a pair of properties – a five-bedroom, three-bathroom character home with an adjoining bare section on Riddell Road, Glendowie – for $10m-plus to a buyer who came through before the listing had gone online.
She said some of the buyers who missed out on that property, which was over 3127sqm, also tried for and missed out on another site on Gifford Street that sold for $4m last week at auction – after competing with 16 other bidders.
“There are overseas buyers coming back, and there’s just not a lot for them. We’re starting listings process now, and telling people that there will be a lot of properties on the market after the election so we’re encouraging them to go on the market now.
First-home buyers and downsizers are chasing finished townhouses such as these on 82 Ashby Avenue, St Heliers, which are going for between $1.25 and $1.4m. Photo / Supplied
Buyers paid over $10m for a house and an empty section of over 3000sqm on Riddell Road, Glendowie. Photo / Supplied
“Mostly they’re $3m to $6m family homes, but we also have development land,” she said, adding that developers will be noticing that finished townhouses, such as those she is selling on 82 Ashby Avenue, are getting huge interest.
“We had 18 people through this weekend; at $1.25m to $1.4m price they’re appealing to first-home buyers and downsizers. People are very aware of the market now, and it’s starting to affect prices.
“Top-end buyers, they don’t even need banks or a mortgage, they’re not worried. Some in the $3m range are selling to move to Australia but others are still waiting to see what will happen in the market, some even holding off until next year,” Schoonraad said.
Ray White Eastern Bays co-owner Ricky Cave said buyers with $2m to $3m to spend were complaining that there was nothing out there to buy.
“There’s just a real shortage of stock, people with those budgets saying there is nothing out there.
“A property we have at 4 Fenton Circus, Orakei, a 1940s house on 1166sqm land would have been for developers, but now we’ve got people looking to rebuild or even for a renovation.
“In that Paritai Drive-Fenton Circus area there are so few properties left that you could put your stamp on,” he said, adding that the busiest market is downsizers shopping for a lock-up-and-leave home.
“We’re getting a heap of people through open homes, we’re saying to vendors who are holding off that they should list now. October will be busy after the election,” he said.
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty Eastern Bays owner Greg Dennerly said that downsizers were the main buyers at the moment, as there was little stock of premium large family homes.
“People are starting to ask about listing, but some will need time to get ready or will hold off for some reason,” he said.
- Click here to see more properties for sale in Auckland
