A four-bedroom villa on a little-known waterfront street in Auckland's Avondale sold at the end of last month for $1.825 million, the highest sale price in the suburb this year.
Ray White agent Derek von Sturmer, who marketed the stylish property on Avondale Road with colleague Jackson Tariau, said that the property received two strong offers after it passed in at auction in May.
The price was a long way off Avondale’s record price of $2.58m paid at auction last year for a four-bedroom Hamptons-style renovated home the pair marketed on Saltaire Street in August.
Then, at the market peak, the auction was brought forward with a pre-auction offer, but this year buyers had properties to sell so offers were conditional.
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“The buyer had a property to sell on Waiheke so after that went unconditional, she could go unconditional on the Avondale property,” von Sturmer told OneRoof.
The property had a CV of $1.4m, and had sold seven years ago for $835,000. The sellers had done a top to bottom renovation, which put the property in a higher price bracket.
Avondale's top residential sale price of $2.58m paid last year for a four-bedroom house in Saltaire Street has not been matched this year. Photo / Supplied
“She was moving to be closer to family, but our under-bidders were Avondale locals, who also had a house to sell. People like this patch and they want to stay nearby, we’re putting more and more of these chain deals together to get everyone moved.”
Buyers for the property, which overlooks the water, could not buy at auction as they had houses to sell, a sign of the times in Avondale. Photo / Supplied
Von Sturmer said that while the Avondale market had taken a hit, he expected it to catch up soon as the western suburb followed Point Chevalier trends.
“It’s like the classic stone dropped in a pond – the ripples start in central [Auckland] and work their way out. Point Chev has had hit after hit, but in the last three weeks of July we’ve seen a resurgence, and then it will be Avondale’s turn.
“It will take a little while to recover but it will pick up momentum in the next two or three months,” he said.
He said buyers looking at Avondale from suburbs further out west – Te Atatu, New Lynn or even Titirangi – hoping to pick up more house for their money closer into town were grappling with an even harder hit on prices in those western suburbs.
“But we’ve seen a resurgence in Point Chevalier in July – we’re getting more people at open homes, multiple offers and pre-auction offers. Avondale and Waterview will follow.”
Von Sturmer said he and his agents were still encouraging vendors to go to auction to get unconditional offers, pointing to a luxury waterfront home at 21 Raymond Street Point Chevalier that will be auctioned on Thursday, August 3.
The pick-up in buyer confidence in July in Point Chev, where auctions for this Raymond Street are back on, will flow into Avondale. Photo / Supplied
The near-new home with a swimming pool, just steps from the Point Chev boat ramp and sailing club, last sold just under four years ago for $3.15m and has a current CV of $4.55m.
He said developers were still looking around Avondale, particularly at properties that were back on the market with resource consents.
Last year developers paid $2.55m for a 1012sqm plot on Highbury Street, Avondale, which had zoning for terrace houses and apartments, while another 1013sqm site with zoning for urban density on Robertson Road, Avondale Heights, fetched $2.31m.
This year there are more listings including a 4460sqm empty site on Wingate Street, next to the Avondale Racecourse zoned for apartments just listed last month, a 930sqm site with urban density on Oregon Avenue that has been on the market since January after not selling at auction (it has a CV of $1.8m) and another four-bedroom original home with a second three-bedroom dwelling on 797sqm zoned for apartments on Blockhouse Bay Road that has been on the market since April, with a CV of $1.925m.
“There’s a lack of confidence, so a lot of developers are starting to design and look at feasibility, von Sturmer said.
A developer for a townhouses, one of a block of 35 at 27 Powell Street, Avondale, is asking for offers. Photo / Supplied
“We’re saying to developers you don’t just target one type of buyer, you’ll be surprised if you keep options open. We are seeing all sorts of people come through developments like Powell Street, it’s a mix of families, downsizers, first-home buyers. “
The developer of the three-bedroom new home at 7/27 Powell Street is asking for all offers, with similar houses in the complex recently selling for between $1.18m and $1.24m.
Avondale’s development is about to get a kick when development partners Marutūahu-Ockham spend $550m building 750 apartments in eight blocks of up to 10 storeys on the 1.58ha of land on the former site of a 3 Guys supermarket they bought last month from Auckland Council’s Eke Panuku development arm.
Building on the site on Racecourse Road, near the railway station and primary school, will start next year and is expected to regenerate the neighbourhood, with ground level retail and a new town square, Kainga Ora housing and dedicated build-to-rent blocks.
