Two Christchurch vendors pocketed an extra $200,000-plus each after the brought-forward auctions for their houses shattered their expectations, selling way over the reserves.
The Avonhead and Merivale properties had acceptable pre-auction offers made on them within a week of going to market and within two weeks had both sold under the hammer for hundreds of thousands of dollars more after heated bidding.
A luxury four-bedroom, two-bathroom home on Aikmans Road, in Merivale, had a pre-auction offer of $2 million after just one open home. The offer was accepted and the auction was brought forward to Thursday.
But the keen buyer found themselves up against tough competition, and after 11 bids of at least $10,000 each, the property was bought for $2.35m by someone else.
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Bayleys listing agent Belinda Ellis said the vendor was “over the moon” after walking away with $235,000 more than what they had been prepared to take. They had purchased the property in October 2019 for $1.465m, OneRoof records show.
“It just enables them to make some other decision and opens up their next move considerably. It was fabulous.”
Ellis said there were three registered bidders, but only two were active. “They were very motivated to get something.”
The property attracted locals looking for a contemporary base in Merivale, she said, and had a striking exterior with its black and cedar finish.
There were two very motivated bidders battling it out for the modern four-bedroom, two-bathroom home on Aikmans Road. Photo / Supplied
Ellis, who had sold the Aikmans Road property four years ago to the vendors, said they had improved an already exceptional home by adding an outdoor louvre system and the gardens had also been established in that time.
In the past few months, there has been a rise in the number of auctions brought forward, but Ellis said few had sold for that much more than the reserve.
It didn’t always come down to how many bidders there were, she said, but more their level of motivation and how much they wanted the property.
Ellis said they now needed to find a similar property for the underbidders who missed out.
The four-bedroom home on Abingdon Court, in Avonhead, also sold for $216,500 more than its pre-auction offer. Photos / Supplied
The Avonhead home was in demand from families wishing to upsize and to get into the school zones. Photo / Supplied
The other auction brought forward for a family home on Abingdon Court, in Avonhead, opened and was announced on the market at $948,500. But with nine registered bidders and three buyers battling it out until the end, it finally sold for $1.165m last Monday.
Harcourts Grenadier salesperson Andrew Steel said the vendor was in Croatia at the time and had been asleep while the auction was on so had been “absolutely ecstatic” when he woke up to the good news.
“He was very surprised and pleasantly surprised at the extra amount achieved.”
Steel said there was a lot of demand for the home, mainly from families looking to upsize and to get into the school zones.
“The property had potential to add value to it and I just think that price point in that market there seems to be a bit of heat on.”
Steel believed taking it to auction helped achieve an “exceptional result” and he did not think they would have got the same price using another method of sale.
“I always say if you are going to get a record price, it’s the auction process that will achieve it and that was a classic example of that happening.”
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