Harcourts agent Gareth Hookham has called it “the auction of the year”. Eight bidders pushed up the price of a four-bedroom Auckland house to nearly $2 million – more than $500,000 above its CV.
Hookham said there had been strong interest in the updated home on Doment Crescent, in Orewa, ahead of the auction – he had more than 200 people through the open homes – but the result was still a surprise.
“We knew it would be good, but we just didn’t know how good,” he told OneRoof.
“We were getting enquiry before it was officially listed. We were doing open homes just about every day. It’s a beautiful home in a desirable area on the flats. It appealed to young families and those wanting to be close to the beach.”
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Hookham said some buyers had been hoping the property would sell for below CV – some even talked of prices around the $1.1m level – but the opening bid at last week’s auction was $1.4m, sinking any hopes of a bargain.
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The auction was over in eight minutes and 33 bids later, with the buyers upgrading from a neighbouring suburb.
Harcourts head of auctions Shane Cortes said the price was right. “People knew where the market was – 11 registered bidders told them that – and the vendors got a premium for their home and certainty. When the hammer comes down, it’s unconditional, it’s done,” he said.
Hookham said he had a number of properties to get to market for the people who missed out. “I’ve got a huge number of buyers, some with budgets up to $3m,” he said, adding that the feedback from buyers was that now was the time to buy.
“They’re saying, ‘We’ve had time to sit on our hands, but now we’ve seen the bottom’.”
The Doment Crescent property attracted several offers ahead of the auction and had more than 200 people through at the open homes. Photo / Supplied
Agents say the seaside suburb of Orewa is attracting buyers from all over Auckland. Photo/ Fiona Goodall
Harcourts Orewa and Silverdale branch manager Tim Glatt said there was a feeling the market was shifting, noting that Hookham and his team of agents had five sales go unconditional last week, with another two deals in play.
“You just get a sense that there’s this underlying bubble of excitement. There’s media talk about interest rates coming down and I think that gives us all a sense of enthusiasm for a hopefully vibrant spring,” he said.
Glatt said entry-level properties – those around the $750,000 bracket – were moving the fastest this winter.
“Orewa’s always been a retirement capital, but now it’s gentrified in a nice way. There is a lot more diversity coming into new suburbs like Milldale [on the western side of the motorway],” he said.
Mike Pero real estate agent Lane Sanger agreed that the market was on the cusp of coming back, particularly around first-home buyer price points. He said buyers from West Auckland and the North Shore were looking at $900,000 to $1.3m townhouses (that would buy a four-bedroom place) in the area as prices gave better value.
He said auctions worked for the right property: “It comes down to a really special property and emotional attachment. There are what I call ‘emotional passive’ buyers who will move if the right thing comes along,” he said.
Ray White’s Dylan Turner agreed that the brand new townhouse segment was the most buoyant, particularly up to $1m but he had clients confident in the home and land packages.
He is currently marketing a 430-section development in the newest suburb of Strathmill, a master-planned community off West Hoe Road, on the western motorway edge of Orewa, which consists of affordable standalone houses of between two and four bedrooms.
“We’ve sold about 200 already, they’re looking at selling for about $1m to $1.05m,” he said, adding that these prices were below what the costs would be.
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