An investor paid almost half a million dollars over the reserve for a do-up in South Auckland this week – a sign the market is on the move again, an agent has told OneRoof.
The $1.351 million sale of the three-bedroom brick and tile home on Station Road, in Papatoetoe, was a surprise to everyone involved, including the elderly vendor, who bought it in the late 1990s for just $190,000.
The auction was fierce, with eight registered bidders whittling down to the final two, neither of whom wanted to give up on the 1024sqm site, which was zoned for development.
Ray White agent Monika Maynard, who marketed the home with colleague Aryaan Batra, said: “Even the auctioneer was just like, ‘wow’ afterwards. Everybody was really, really surprised. There were a few tears from the vendor.
Start your property search
“I think an investor bought it with a view for a long-term hold.”
Discover more:
- 95 bids on family home sends sale price whizzing past the $6m mark
- Auction frenzy turns $20,000 loss into $20,000 profit
- How long does it take to sell a house in New Zealand?
The land, next door to a mechanic’s and a petrol station, was “slopey” and not ideal for development but was zoned Mixed Housing Suburban.
”It’s a brick and tile house. It’s had a few mum and dad add-ons over the years, as people did back then - a few non consented add-ons.
“It’s hard to say what this investor is going to do with it because there’s a five-metre contour from the road to the actual bottom of this section and I think the bottom of this section does drop back quite heavily.”
Options included renovating the house and building another dwelling on the back, or demolishing the house completely and starting from scratch. The location was great, though – near to the hospital, railway station and airport.
“It just shows you that once the adrenaline rush of the auction kicks in, and the emotion of the auction kicks in, coupled with what they want to do with the property, it just equates to a really great result,” Maynard told OneRoof.
A “complete dump” on Zelda Avenue, in Clover Park, was described as needing a new everything. Photo / Supplied
A family home on Deodar Place, in Totara Heights, was snapped up by first-home buyers. Photo / Supplied
Properties which sold well over reserve last week included a three-bedroom house on Deodar Place, in Totara Heights, which was on the market at $945,000 but sold for $88,000 more, this time to first-home buyers.
“We had 65 groups through the three weeks of open homes so that is massive. Normally we’re getting like 15 groups through, 20 groups through maybe if we’re lucky,” Maynard said.
The buyers said they were tired of losing out on homes so slugged it out to pay $1.033m.
Another sale last week, of a “complete dump” on Zelda Avenue, in Clover Park, went for $186,000 over the reserve, selling under the hammer to a trader for $646,000.
The house needed a new everything: “New gib, new floors, new bathroom, new kitchen. Basically, the house had to be gutted and redone,” Maynard said.
The agent believed that the drop in interest rates had spurred more activity in the market. “We are seeing a lot of first-time buyers come to auction and we’re starting to see first-home buyers now starting to do building reports in the first weekend of open homes because they know that if they don’t they will miss out.”
As long as properties were marketed properly and priced well, they would sell, she said.
“They can see that the markets moving and there is that FOMO of ‘I’ve got to buy now or the prices are going to get away from me’.”
- Click here to find more properties for sale in Auckland
