An immaculately renovated villa in Auckland’s city fringe suburb of Freemans Bay sold for $9 million, OneRoof can reveal.
The two-storeyed, four-bedroom house on Arthur Street, around the corner from the bustle of Franklin Road’s annual Christmas lights display, had been renovated by name architect Jack McKinney.
The property, marketed by Wall Real Estate agents Ollie and Andrew Wall, featured a relatively modest white villa facade to the street, but out the back was two floors of open plan living wrapped in shuttered verandahs with a meticulously styled interior.
Top quality renovated properties are in high demand in the suburb that is often overlooked in favour of its higher profile Herne Bay and Ponsonby neighbours.
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“We think Freemans Bay is heavily undervalued,” Ollie Wall told OneRoof.
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“Part of the reason is that most sites are only around 300sqm. But there are some of Auckland’s best properties and most extraordinary views, most of which are yet to transact.
“Arthur Street is the best street in Freemans Bay, being a quiet cul-de-sac at the top of the ridge with bigger plots, huge views and close to all the Ponsonby action.”
The Arthur Street house was made over by architect Jack McKinney and included a steel spiral staircase joining the heritage verandahs. Photo / Supplied
Houses on the Arthur Street ridge get spectacular close-up views of the city. Photo / Supplied
The ridge-top position and top floor living of the house made for close-up views of the city, while the lower floors opened to sheltered lawns on the 495sqm section. The Victorian verandahs were accessed by a modern sculptural steel spiral staircase.
The house is just three doors down from the sprawling six-bedroom house that still holds the suburb record price of $11.15m when it was sold in 2018.
That house, built by media star and interior designer Sally Ridge and her then fiance, international cricketer Adam Parore, had courted headlines, starting in 2005 when neighbours objected to the couple demolishing the original heritage house they’d bought two year earlier, and again in 2013 as part of the couple’s dispute over family trusts after their 2010 separation.
Another house on the street sold in August last year for $5.6m in an off-market deal brokered by Kellands agent Martin Dobson.
A year earlier, when the Walls had sold another Jack McKinney-designed house around the corner on Franklin Road that fetched $4.8m after fierce competition, they said buyers were looking for more than just the standard white box-out-the-back renovation.
Wall said that Freemans Bay buyers were on the hunt for something way more creative.
“The houses have all started to look the same,” Wall said earlier.
“Now people are getting a bit more creative, with designs from architects like Jack McKinney.”
The Freemans Bay price record of $11.15m was set in 2018 for the Arthur Street house built by celebrities Sally Ridge and Adam Parore. Photo / Supplied
Buyers are also prepared to pay a premium for off-street parking (the house had parking for two cars).
Bayleys agent Joe Telford said there was some cross-over of buyers looking at houses across the inner city, from the better known Herne Bay into Freemans Bay, for large scale well-done houses.
“We had people who were looking at my listing on Galatea Street, Herne Bay house, which is looking for over $10m, who were also looking at that Arthur Street house,” he said.
“But you get some people who are definitely more adamant about one or other of those suburbs. Freemans Bay is a mix of your Ponsonby-Grey Lynn – pockets of more simplistic villas – and bigger properties like Herne Bay. But in Herne Bay you’d be struggling to find many un-done-up houses now.
“Ten years ago, maybe 30% of houses [on a street] were do-ups, now maybe it’s 10%. But someone buying something that needs a ton of work, that’s not very common these days.
“They’d rather buy Arthur Street, 100% beautifully done. With the escalation of build costs, people are prepared to know what they’re spending, and know that they don’t need to spend any more money.”
The Walls could not comment on the buyers or sellers of the Arthur Street property, which had a CV of $6.31m. It changed hands as the market peaked in early 2022 for $9.35m, OneRoof records show.
The agency now has a listing for another fully renovated property at 26 Arthur Street.
A house on a double section at 26-28 Arthur Street is currently on the market and expected to sell for well over $9m. Photo / Supplied
Wall said the four-bedroom, five-bathroom two-storey villa, set on a double-sized section of 856sqm was likely to fetch over $9m.
The house, with a swimming pool and two master suites, comes with a gym, separate office and, rare in the neighbourhood, parking for six cars. It has a CV of $7.4m.
Other top sales in the suburb, both in 2020, were for an immaculately renovated villa on Hepburn Street that sold in December for 2020 for $7.9m. In its unrenovated state it had featured in the move Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Earlier that year, an upscale penthouse apartment in Hereford Street fetched $7.2m.
Ray White Kingsland business owner Angela Saunders said that renovated houses with “signature style” sell well in Freemans Bay, especially in Arthur Street which is considered the suburb’s dress circle.
“This is probably the new norm for this sort of property – they’re bigger homes and better located than Herne Bay, being closer to the city. It’s the stuff under $3.5m that’s not moving so much,” she said.
- Click here to find more properties for sale in Freemans Bay
