The Prime Minister has found a buyer for his Auckland rental property.
The listing for Christopher Luxon’s tidy two-bedroom 96sqm brick and tile unit, in Onehunga, declared the property had “now sold!”.
The house, which first hit the market on July 24, was listed with a fixed price of $945,000 – $205,000 below the 2021 CV of $1.15 million.
Records show Luxon took over the property title in November 2015, with Stuff reporting he paid $650,000. If the property sold for the asking price, Luxon would have made a gross profit of $295,000.
Start your property search
OneRoof has decided not to publish the street address or link to the listing for privacy reasons. The listing, however, states the house is Healthy Homes Compliant, and has a modern kitchen and two toilets.
The agent’s marketing said the “home is perfect for first-time buyers, downsizers, or anyone seeking a low-maintenance lifestyle in a prime location”.
The listing photos show a well-maintained fresh-looking home.
Inside the Onehunga investment property that Christopher Luxon sold this month. Photo / Supplied
The Prime Minister, at the LGNZ conference in Wellington last month, owns several properties. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Luxon owns several rental properties, a holiday home on Waiheke Island and a family home in Remuera.
Last year, in the run-up to the election, he told Q+A host Jack Tame that his investment portfolio did not affect his judgement on housing policy and that he had been upfront with Kiwis on the number of homes he owned.
Luxon’s National-led Government has brought back interest rate deductibility for property investors and reduced the bright-line period from 10 years to two. The latter change does not impact Luxon’s property, which was bought well before the Labour Government extended the bright-line test.
Luxon’s sale comes amid a uptick in buyer sentiment following the Reserve Bank’s cut to the Official Cash Rate last month. However, the latest OneRoof figures show prices in Auckland are still under pressure. Auckland’s average property value fell 2.7% in the three months to the end of August and Onehunga’s dropped 6.5%.
Discover more:
- Tony Alexander: How long have buyers got before they lose the upper hand?
- ‘Yuck’ South Auckland home back on the market after unbelievable transformation
- The hidden costs of buying a luxury home in NZ - could you afford a $100,000 rates bill?
While first-home buyers are the most active group in the market right now, investors have also started to show renewed interest in buying.
Wayne Shum, senior research analyst at OneRoof’s data partner Valocity, told OneRoof last month properties that appealed to first-home buyers and investors would likely see a price boost.
But properties with investor-only appeal were struggling. “Investors are only looking for bargains – they’re not going to pay top money,” he said.
Ray White agent Rohan Thompson, who sells in Onehunga, told OneRoof last month that buyer interest had picked up, especially for properties priced from $600,000.
Properties were generally selling for below CV, he said. “Vendors accept that. They know these CVs were [done] in 2021 at the peak,” he said.
Although the sale price of Luxon’s rental has yet to be made public, it is unlikely to match the high sums former Prime Minister Sir John Key got for his properties. In 2017, Sir John sold his Parnell mansion for $23.5 million and in 2018 he sold his bach at Omaha to former ANZ chief executive David Hisco for $3.1m.
- Click here to find more properties for sale in Auckland
