The former owners of a three-bedroom house in Auckland’s Mount Wellington fought off competitive bids from 13 other buyers to win back their old home.
The couple got just $1 million for the property on Ferndale Road when they sold it in 2018. Last week, at a packed onsite auction held by Ray White, they shelled out $1.45m for the privilege of moving back in.
Ray White agent Nick Lyus, who listed the renovated property with colleague Nicki Lambert, said he had 120 groups of buyers through the open homes.
Lyus said there was a lot of nervous energy at the auction, with the rival bidders all first-home buyers. “First-home buyers realise that the market is going to be increasing this year. The general sentiment was it’s cheaper to buy today than post-Easter.”
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Bidding started at $1m, and soon shot past the 2021 CV of $1.275m, but the previous owners had deeper pockets than their competition.
The first-home buyers who missed out were in their late 20s and early 30s, Lyus said. Some were couples, others were in groups. Lyus said in his 16 years of sales he had never seen buyers move back to a home they’d owned previously.
“I’m not sure boomers defeat first-home buyers is a great heading,” Lyus joked.
The agent said the couple had missed their old home and jumped at the chance to get it back when they saw it had come up for sale.
“They absolutely love the home,” said Lyus. “And the garden in particular. It’s a half share of 1825sqm and has mature trees. The happy memories brought them back. The house was where they’d raised their family.”
Some of the personal touches the couple had made when they first owned the home were still there, including an outdoor pizza oven and a schist stone kitchen island.
Their old Ferndale Road neighbours were happy to have them back, said Lyus. “One of the neighbours from the front, he came back to the auction. He was very pleased that the previous owners had moved back in.”
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