Two do-ups on the same Auckland street have been snapped up within days of each other.
Four buyers battled it out at a Barfoot & Thompson auction last month to own an empty villa at 13 Francis Street, in Grey Lynn.
Listing agent Jacqui Vaughan-Kells told OneRoof that bidding started at $1.7 million and quickly escalated, with the property finally selling for $2.01m – about $1m below CV.
She was unable to say who the buyer was but said the bidders in the room were a mixture of developers and home-buyers. “It was a bit of a mixed-interest property.”
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She said the four-bedroom house was on the side of Francis Street that didn’t have a heritage overlay. That meant the more than 100-year-old property could be demolished, despite its long history.
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Developers were also present at the Ray White auction for the four-bedroom home at 7 Francis Street.
Thomas Farmer, who heads up Ray White Ponsonby, said that eight of the 12 bidders who registered were developers, all of whom were after the “dead-flat” 690sqm site.
“The people weren’t buying it to do the home up, they were buying it to remove the home and build.”
The property, which was marketed by agent Dylan Tracey, sold for $2.68m – under its $3.2m CV, but Farmer said the fact that 12 bidders turned up was significant.
Four bidders battled it out for 13 Francis Street, in Grey Lynn. Photo / Supplied
A character home on Fife Street, in neighbouring Westmere, sold for $3.13m. Photo / Supplied
“That’s very big – that’s a very, very busy auction. We’re averaging probably three [bidders per sale] at the moment so 12 is a significant number of buyers.”
Farmer told OneRoof he did not know what the new owners had planned for the site but thought any development would most likely be a multi-unit structure or a couple of larger homes.
Tracey said the auction was the busiest he had seen since the boom. “It surprised me there were that many people interested. It’s extremely popular because it’s so close to the West Lynn Village.”
There was a lot of buyer interest in the other homes up for grabs at the Ray White Ponsonby auction.
A house on Fife Street, in Westmere, sold for $3.13m, with six bidders registering for the auction.
Agent Charlotte Kofoed said the big attraction was the location, with the renovated home being sold by downsizing vendors and bought by an upsizing family.
Farmer added: “We’re seeing it across the board. It’s not one sector of the market that’s particularly improved, it is overall buyers feeling more confident in the marketplace with the interest rate drops.”
The re-emergence of developers, however, was a good sign, he said.
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