The bonus apartment from The Block NZ's season eight is up for grabs for the first time since 2019.
The ground floor two-bedroom property at 1/516 New North Road Kingsland was one of the apartments renovated in the show but it didn't go to auction in the grand finale and was mostly out of view for much of the series.
It was quietly sold after the series finished but is now back on the market with Barfoot & Thompson agents Erin and Neil Dayal, by way of deadline sale closing October 17.
Owners Tom and Emma told OneRoof they came across the apartment in the former Kingsland Fire Station by accident. “We didn’t watch that season, but were having coffee in Kingsland and saw the open home sign. We took a look and said, ‘This is incredible’. We came back the next day and had an offer in within the week,” Emma said. “We had to go back and watch a few episodes of the show on YouTube.”
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The apartment did make a brief appearance in the show, when the bathroom got a luxury makeover.
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The new listing follows the Dayals’ successful sale of the three-bedroom sub-penthouse apartment in the same block for $1.65 million.
That apartment was renovated by season eight favourites Ethan Ordish and Sam Whatarangi. It had first sold at its reserve price on the show auction night, so the pair failed to make any money from their time on the show, although they did pick up the People’s Choice Award, which was a Suzuki S-Cross Prestige.
Owner Emma and agent Erin Dayal said the bathroom was a standout feature. “That’s one of the things I’m going to miss, it’s incredible. We won’t get that again,” Emma said.
The luxurious bathroom won the bathroom challenge after it was renovated by previous season winners. Photo / Supplied
Floor-to-ceiling glass sliders open to a metre-wide plant-filled balcony for a green outlook while another patio is shared by living and bedrooms. Photo / Supplied
Dayal concurred: “It is the most sensational bathroom, huge with a massive tub and rain shower.”
Emma and partner Tom have repainted some walls and replaced the furniture with their own, while plants on the clever garden balcony and corner patio have flourished over the past four years. On the balcony, floor-to-ceiling doors slide open to a one metre-wide railed garden for a lush outlook in the urban space, while the patio off the bedroom and living room affords grandstand views of Eden Park.
Emma said the couple can even see the screens for big concerts, and needless to say the sound is good too.
Dayal said that after just six days on the market and one weekend of open homes, interest has been high in Emma and Tom’s apartment compared to the beginning of the year when the other two apartments hit the market.
“We’re really excited about marketing this, there’s fantastic interest. The market is definitely bubbling and picking up, and the place that is moving the fastest is that first-home buyer market, apartments in the $1m to $1.5m price bracket.
“It’s better and more confident and we’re meeting more qualified buyers, people just ready to go.”
While she couldn’t speculate on where the price for 1/516 would land, Dayal said interest had come from both first-home buyers and people looking for a cool part of the city to downsize to.
Another apartment in the same block, also listed at the end of 2022, was taken off the market at the end of April after failing to find a buyer and is now rented out.
Two other apartments in the Kingsland building resold earlier.
Apart from painting a few walls and adding their own furniture, the owners have not made any changes to the apartment. Photo / Supplied
The bedroom and living room open to a tiny patio which has flourishing plants. Photo / Supplied
Another ground floor apartment, renovated by Stacy Heyman and Adam Middleton, was resold in 2021 by former Block producer and television chief Julie Christie and her daughter for $2.1m - a $620,000 gain on their purchase soon after the show. And Sophie and Mikaere Gardiner’s apartment that had sold for $1.6m two weeks after the show auction, resold just a year later for $1.515m.
Emma told OneRoof that theirs was the perfect inner-city home for first-home buyers.
“We love the area; it’s been an amazing urban lifestyle. This is really density done well. We’ve got a real community here, it’s such a nice small block. We love the area and want to stay for our next chapter. We’re selling it because Tom is a musician and wants a workshop to build his guitars.
“We’d love to sell this as a beautiful first home to the next people,” Emma said.
The return of the show to TV screens has not been confirmed, with producers citing the “challenging housing market” as the reason for the hiatus.
- 1/516 New North Road, Kingsland has a deadline sale closing October 17
