Eager first-home buyers narrowly missed out on winning “Richmond’s best house” after a final bid of $975,000 from a developer knocked them out of the race.
The four-bedroom, two-bathroom property on Draper Street, in Richmond, Christchurch, attracted a huge amount of interest during the first two weeks of marketing. The auction was brought forward to last Thursday after three pre-auction offers were made.
The auction opened at the offer of $850,000, the sum which brought the auction date forward, and quickly climbed up after more than 20 fast-paced bids were made. The happy owners walked away with an extra $125,000 in their pockets and $265,00 more than what they paid four years ago.
Harcourts Gold salesperson Louis McFadden said Richmond was an extremely popular entry-level suburb and three of the four bidders had been first-home buyers.
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“It was probably the best house in Richmond – it was very cool,” he said. “This one couple who put in a pre-auction offer wanted to have their wedding there. Unfortunately, they missed out.”
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The successful bid was made by a developer who planned to eventually develop the large 1500sqm section.
His plans for the property are similar to the previous owners’ who purchased the property for $730,000 in 2020 and rented it in the short-term with plans to develop it in the long-term. However, McFadden said they had since got involved with other projects and decided to sell.
McFadden said the large home had everything buyers wanted including being double glazed with triple garaging. There was even a glass house, atrium and wrap-around driveway, he said.
“It needed a bit of maintenance for sure, but it’s still a beautiful house.”
The Draper Street home had four bedrooms and three living rooms. Photo / Supplied
McFadden said the suburb was particularly attractive to first-home buyers because the average house price was around $700,000 and getting the spillover from St Albans and Mairehau. “It’s probably the next emerging suburb.”
Bayleys salesperson Angela Webb said Richmond had been popular for a few years now and had benefitted from the “Merivale creep”. “Merivale has kind of moved into St Albans a bit and St Albans has got too expensive for first-home buyers who have kind of crept into Richmond and even Richmond is now getting up there.”
Webb said a lot of first-home buyers only had budgets of around $600,000, which was below what many Richmond homes were now selling for.
A three-bedroom cottage at 13 Medway Street, in Richmond, which has an RV of $630,000, was being sold by deadline for the first time in 17 years after the owner had moved into a retirement village. Webb said they had more than 60 groups – mainly first-home buyers with a good budget and families – make enquiries in less than three weeks.
“Richmond is a suburb that’s so close to town. It’s so easy to get to places from – you’ve got The Palms, you’ve got the city centre, you’ve got red zone – it’s just really convenient and you are still sitting under the million dollar mark.”
A four-bedroom, one-bathroom home on Dudley Street, in Richmond, has been recently renovated. Photo / Supplied
First-home buyers and families have so far shown interest in the affordable home. Photo / Supplied
Ray White salesperson Holly Jones agreed Richmond was an affordable option for both first-home buyers and families who wanted to be on the city fringe.
“It’s neighbouring on St Albans, but you get a lot more for your money,” she said.
“The beauty of it is because it’s so central to the city centre, but it’s also a really family-friendly quiet neighbourhood with lots of beautiful character villas that have been renovated.”
Jones said it was these buyers who were also interested in a modern four-bedroom, one-bathroom bungalow at 33 Dudley Street, in Richmond. The fully renovated property, which has an RV of $730,000, is being auctioned on October 15. The property last changed hands for $452,174 in May this year, OneRoof records show.
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