An award-winning house in Auckland’s Freemans Bay sold at break-neck speed this week for more than double its CV.
Wall Real Estate agent Ollie Wall told OneRoof that a buyer made an offer of almost $5m for the the four-bedroom villa on Franklin Road within hours of the property hitting the market.
“We had an offer on the first day it was on the market,” Wall said, adding that the speed of the offer had caught other potential buyers off guard.
“There were five people seriously interested so there were a few people very sad that it went so quickly. We’re happy for our buyers and vendors, but then you’ve got to call everyone else to let them down.”
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While Wall was unable to disclose the exact sale price, he did say it was a record for the street.
He added that there was huge demand for well-designed properties in Freemans Bay, Saint Marys Bay and Ponsonby from downsizing baby boomers who want to be close to the inner-city.
He estimated that a stand-out design - a step up from the usual modern-box-on-the back renovation - would add at least a $1m premium to the sale price.
"The buyers are downsizing, but they’re not down-grading. They want the same quality and style they had in their Herne Bay or Remuera house. Something premium, but a stroll to the restaurants.”
The renovation of the four bedroom villa on Franklin Road, in Auckland’s Ponsonby, won the architect an NZ Institute of Architects award and the Here magazine Best House in Aotearoa for 2021. Photo / David Straight
The design by architect Jack McKinney, called Super Taper, added a stone-clad pyramid to the back of the villa. Photo / David Straight
Wall added that downsizing baby boomers with money were prepared to pay for the convenience of a ready-made home. They didn't want to spend a year or two out of their lives project-managing a renovation that could end costing $2m-plus.
The Franklin Road owners, a couple in the creative industry themselves, had called on architects Jack McKinney and interior designer Katie Lockhart (known for her work on designer Karen Walker’s stores and Oyster Inn, on Waiheke Island) to transform the Victorian square-fronted villa.
The rear of the house, a tile-covered pyramid called Super Taper was dubbed by international design bible Wallpaper magazine as "a monolithic marvel infused with tropical modernism”, with carefully placed windows overlooking the pool on the typically tiny 311sqm site, a calming timber kitchen, terracotta floors and subtle green-tiled bathrooms.
Celebrated interior designer Katie Lockhart used terracotta tile, raw plaster and timber for the serene interiors. Photo / David Straight
The villa is metres from the shops and eateries of Ponsonby Road. Photo / David Straight
Last year the project won both a New Zealand Institute of Architects Award and Here magazine’s Best House Aotearoa 2021, with judges praising how the south-facing site was handled: “Instead of ‘blowing out the back’, McKinney draws your attention in and down... the light is beautiful and the textures are soft.”
The sale follows the record price a year ago for another Jack McKinney-designed renovation of a tiny Ponsonby cottage with developer Cameron Ireland. The two-bedroom house on a tiny corner site on Vermont Street sold at auction for $5.3m – more than $2m above its CV and $600,000 above the reserve.
The original 56sqm Victorian cottage became a luxury bedroom suite, and McKinney and Ireland then added nearly 300sqm of living space and a three-car garage.
Architect Jack McKinney also designed the transformation of a two bedroom cottage in Vermont Street, Ponsonby, that sold last year for a record $5.3m. Photo / David Straight
At the peak of the market last year, in Ponsonby, a stylishly renovated four-bedroom home on a 424sqm site on John Street sold for $3.905m, while another top-to-toe renovated four-bedroom villa on Prosford Street sold for $4.788m in May
