A South Auckland home sold this week for the fifth time in four years and the sale price was almost $300,000 less than what the owners paid for it two years ago.
The three-bedroom house on Buckland Road, in Mangere East, sold under the hammer in an “as is, where is” condition for $490,000 after 30 bids in Ray White Remuera’s auction room today.
The property last changed hands for $750,000 in March 2022, according to OneRoof data, and had been listed for sale multiple times before it was marketed as a mortgagee sale last month.
There were only three exterior photos of the HardiPlank house and one interior photo of the kitchen included in the listing for the property, which was marketed at people wanting to get on the property ladder or investors.
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Ray White auctioneer John Bowring reminded the six registered bidders at the start of Wednesday’s auction that there were no warranties and none of the chattels inside the home could be guaranteed.
The auction opened at $200,000 and steadily rose up in bids of $10,000 to $30,000 until bidding stopped and Bowring paused the auction for negotiations. It reopened with a slightly higher bid of $480,000 which was enough for the property to be announced on the market and after a last-minute flurry of mainly $1000 bids the hammer finally fell at $490,000.
Of the six registered bidders, just four people – including two on the phone and two in the room – placed a total of 30 bids.
A single photo of the kitchen was the only glimpse of what the inside of the house looked like. Photo / Supplied
Bowring told OneRoof mortgagee sales usually attracted a lot of interest and most of the people bidding on the Buckland Road house appeared to be investors.
OneRoof records show the property changed hands four times since it was purchased for $412,000 in March 2020. It sold again six months later for $650,000 in September 2020 and a year later in September 2021 for $665,379. It fetched its highest price of $750,000 in March 2022, which signalled a 35% drop in value between then and now.
Valocity senior research analyst Wayne Shum said mortgagee sales tended to be the last resort. All other options such as moving to interest only for one year or the owner selling it before the bank did were usually explored before the property was sold by the lender.
Shum said an increase in demand for property - which could be buoyed by a fall in interest rates – would hopefully mean most property owners under financial stress would be able to sell before they were forced to.
“People try to avoid mortgagee sales as much as they can, but in a slower market like 2023 even though you discount it there may be fewer buyers so you could still struggle to sell it.”
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