A three-bedroom house in Auckland’s double grammar zone is to be demolished after a developer bought it at auction for $4.05 million - almost double its 2017 rateable value.
9 Patey Street, in Epsom, had been pitched as a development opportunity by the listing agent Barfoot & Thompson’s Cici Wang.
The 1920s build house sits on a 691sqm corner site, which zoned for terrace housing and apartments.
Wang said: “Even though the land is not big, it’s a corner site in a really good street and had resource consent for the building envelope lines approved.
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“It did have resource consent for 24 apartments, as it's in a terrace home and apartment zoning, but the buyer is an experienced developer and will put eight terrace houses on instead. So the neighbours are very happy.”
Wang says that developers were the only people looking at the property, adding that family buyers now know that auction prices for properties with high density zoning will go beyond their reach.
There were three active bidders, Wang says, who quickly pushed the price past $3.6 million.
The 1920s house will be bowled and be replaced by eight townhouses. Photo / Supplied
“That’s a high price in this market, when people are saying it is starting to slow down. Experienced developers have no hesitation, the rookies might hesitate or disappear,” she says.
“They’re buying for development next year, experienced developers are getting ahead of this year.”
While she couldn’t predict where the market for new terrace houses would be in a year’s time, Wang says good four-bedroom properties in double grammar zone today would easily fetch over $2 million each.
“A corner site is rare, it’s the best site.”
The vendors had concept plans for 24 apartments on the site, allowed under the terrace house and apartment zoning. Photo / Supplied
The sale delivered a windfall for the investor-owners, who paid $1.29 million for the property seven years ago, before the Auckland Unitary Plan became operative and up-zoning turned it into such a valuable piece of land.
However, Wang says the $5918 per sqm paid for 9 Patey is short of the Remuera record, set in November last year. Barfoot & Thompson agents Kanta Lala and Rawdon Christie achieved $3.285 million for a 473sqm property at 8 Wootton Road, a record $6945 per sqm. That site, just 200 metres from Newmarket train station and close to Remuera’s “medical mile”, was zoned for residential mixed use with smaller scale commercial activity. The tumbledown villa had been owned by the same family for 70 years and the site was billed as having incredible views across the harbour.
Recently, residential properties in Remuera without extra density zoning have sold for $4500 to $5000 per square metre.
The price per sq m record for Remuera was set in November, when 8 Wootton Road sold for $6945 per sqm. Photo / Supplied
Wang says she also sold 4 Patey Street, around the corner, for $3.75 million in March. That 850sqm site with an attractive three-bedroom transitional villa was zoned for business mixed use, which Wang says allowed building height of up to 18 metres. It achieved a price per sqm of $4412.
