An apartment block in Auckland’s blue chip waterside suburb of St Heliers, abandoned by one set of developers before being turned around by new owners, has nearly sold out.
Well-known eastern suburbs developers Peter and Judy Jones, who have a track record of getting record prices for their high-end apartments, have sold four out of the six apartments on their Saint Heliers Bay Road property The Bay in just six months.
Two of the upper floor apartments sold for around $9m – one for $8.9m, the other for a confidential price “above $9m” - the Ray White agent Ross Tierney, who handled the sales of the apartments told OneRoof, while a sixth apartment on the upper floor is still listed.
“That makes it the most expensive penthouse in St Heliers,” he said.
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These are also two of the highest settled sale prices for apartments this year across Auckland, although they will be beaten by an over $10m deal inked two weeks ago for a penthouse apartment with a 12-car garage in a seven-year old development Remuera Road.
The two lower floor properties fetched $4.1m and $4m, while a fifth property has a conditional offer on it for an undisclosed sum. The sales have settled and the apartments are ready to move in, Tierney added.
The sixth apartment is still for sale.
Property developer Peter Jones is known for creating top apartments that have fetched some of the city's top prices. Photo / Supplied
The Jones, with some 40 years' experience as developers, are no strangers to setting price records. Five years ago two apartments in their previous luxury development on Selwyn Road, Mission Bay set apartment price records when one sold for $10m and another for $9.5m.
And OneRoof understands a deal was inked last month for the resale of a third apartment in the cliff-top development, but its $9.8m price as not appeared in the settled sales records. The sale, by Wall Real Estate, was an off-market deal for owners who had bought the property when it was first built.
The Jones earlier told OneRoof they had completely redesigned the plans made by the previous developers, a local couple who had lived in an old house on the property for nearly 25 years.
“I redesigned the whole thing,” Jones earlier told OneRoof. He used Chad McMann from Archaus and interior designer Jenny Dunlop of Dunlop Design to reconfigure the previous plans for four apartments that included one double story penthouse.
“We worked together to get the best outcome for the site. On this development my two sons, Daniel and Richard – who have 40 years’ experience between them, were included too.”
The apartments ranged in size from 188sqm to 323sqm, with three bedrooms, covered loggias and garaging.
The apartments have recently been completed and people have moved in already. Photo / Supplied
“Buyers were a mix of eastern suburbs locals, but I also had calls from ex-pats in Australia, as well as from around the North Island.
“We had 500 groups through, huge interest. People know about the Jones, their finished product. The apartments are completed, and that makes a huge difference.”
Tierney said most of the buyers were downsizing from large family homes they needed to sell, so the Jones often extended settlement to allow people to sell their old places.
“Most of the sales are in the sub-$5m market, there is definitely a demand for luxury apartments under that $5m level. There’s been no competition."
Tierney said that locals who know St Heliers want to stay in the area, so aren’t looking far to find their next downsize apartment move.
Ollie Wall of Wall Real Estate, who brokered the resale of apartments in two of Jones' older developments this year, one in Tamaki Drive and the other in Selwyn Avenue, concurred.
“The Jones have nailed the market of the high end downsizer. Everyone in the eastern suburbs knows and trusts their work.
“The finished product is always as expected and the layouts are simple and make sense without being overly specific. We’ve sold two of his apartments this year.
“In both [our sales this year], his reputation has done half the job for us,” Wall said.
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