- Over $120 million worth of properties were listed in just one week in Remuera and surrounding suburbs.
- More than 30 properties, with CVs from $1m to over $25m, hit the market for sale.
- Agents report increased confidence and urgency among buyers and sellers as a result of the OCR cuts.
More than $120 million worth of real estate hit the market in some of Auckland’s wealthiest suburbs in just seven days.
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Many of the more than 30 homes freshly listed for sale in Remuera and neighbouring suburbs of Parnell, Orakei and Epsom are aiming to find a buyer before the Christmas break.
Some of the homes have CVs of $25m-plus and could top the sale record for this year, currently at $21.84m for an Italianate mansion in Orakei.
New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agent Paul Sissons has two of the most expensive properties on the market for sale right now: a modern house at 92 Paritai Drive, in Orakei, and a classic build at 298 Remuera Road, in Remuera.
He told OneRoof it was unusual to see this amount of stock hit the market in Auckland’s premier suburbs in such a short space of time.
“It’s as if they said, ‘OK, if we don’t do it this week, we’re too late’,” he said.
“There’s always a bit of a blip, the last hurrah to get sold before Christmas or to get a bit of a jump on people listing in early January. But I think there’s a bit of anticipation the OCR will move this week, that there are going to be buyers out there looking and buying.”
298 Remuera Road, in Auckland’s Remuera, has a CV of more than $25m. Photo / Supplied
Sissons said the uptick in confidence meant some buyers would take a punt and make a purchase before selling their own home first.
“The market has turned and people want to get on with things,” he said.
“This time last year, post-election, people were still asking, ‘What’s happening?’ Now I think there’s some optimism for buyers.
“I’ve got some who are in a cash position, ready to buy property, looking for places in the $8m to $9m price bracket.”
Barfoot & Thompson agent Alex Baker, who listed four homes in Remuera, Parnell and Meadowbank just last week, told OneRoof the surge in listings started after Labour weekend.
“It’s a small window between now and Christmas. If you’re not on the market now, there’s no time left to do it properly.
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“There’s a better market sentiment, but equally there’s more property on the market, so that has swung a bit in the buyers’ favour.”
Ray White Remuera agent Simon Siddells, who has just listed a grand house at 204 Remuera Road with Dianne Maxwell, said the timing for his vendors was more circumstance-driven.
He said that renovations on the three-bedroom Lawrence Sumich-designed house, which has a CV of $8.6m, took longer than expected and the owners had already moved out of Auckland.
A renovated mansion at 204 Victoria Avenue, in Remuera, goes to auction on December 11. Photo / Supplied
“There’s no particular reason. The owners felt confident in the market and they’d rather sell sooner than later as they’ve already moved out,” he told OneRoof.
“It’s not like people are suddenly more confident in November than they were in September. I’ve got a flurry of activity with listings, but it’s nothing to do with market timing, it’s just individual reasons. People move to Queenstown, or they’ve retired.
“I don’t get the impression people are waiting to time the market.”
He added that at his end of the Remuera market, buyers and sellers tended to take longer holidays, so the action typically took place after Waitangi weekend. “Some colleagues are starting on January 4 this year, but they’re cheaper properties.”
Bayleys agent Fleur Denning noted some campaigns were starting earlier than she would have expected.
“A lot of campaigns are starting earlier next year because we don’t have those two long weekends in a row like we have historically, so people will be starting closer to the middle of January.”
She said agents were also “educating” vendors on the merits of showing their property before the rush.
“They don’t automatically understand that it’s better to sell in isolation rather than in competition. A lot of these are downsizing from larger properties. They want to be maximising their price,” she said.
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