A crumbling villa in Auckland’s Grey Lynn sold for $2.525 million at auction last night.
The four-bedroom deceased estate on Millais Street is one of a shrinking number of do-ups in the Auckland's inner-city suburbs. It had been owned by the same family for almost 100 years.
The listing agents, Ray White’s Chloe and Scott Wither, had expected the property to sell for more than $2m, but that was before the country went into a hard lockdown to combat the spread of Covid-19.
However, buyer appetite remains strong - even for a massive renovation project such as this - with the online auction attracting 21 registered bidders and the property eclipsing its CV by $800,000 and its reserve by $150,000.
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Scott said that the property had attracted young families looking for a renovation project as well as developers.
“Two distinct buyer pools for this home, high-end developers but mostly people in their early 30s - they’re making up about 80% of buyers.”
Scott told OneRoof before the sale: “While the property is certainly run-down, it still retains plenty of features that make these period homes so very special.”
Two do-up properties on either side of Millais Street villa have sold for $2m-plus each in the last 12 months, and another three-bedroom house on the street which agents had dubbed “ready for a makeover” sold for $1.85m last September.
The house on Millais Street in Grey Lynn, Auckland, has been untouched for decades. Photo / Supplied
The Withers also sold a tidily renovated three-bedroom villa down the road in March for $2.45m
“This is the best do-up we’ve seen in years,” Scott told OneRoof.
“This street is really changing. Every second house has builders, vans and skips outside. It’s been the golden triangle and tightly held."
The kitchen and bathroom still have original features. Photo / Supplied
Would-be buyers doing their renovation sums may well note recent high value sales of renovated properties in the area. In March this year a stylishly renovated three-bedroom house on nearby Rose Road sold for $3.41m, a profit on paper of more than $1m in the eight months since it last sold in July, OneRoof records show.
The house sits on a 481sqm site with the backyard facing west. Photo / Supplied
Also in March an immaculate four-bedroom home on Ponsonby’s John Street sold for $3.905m, nearly twice its $2.2m CV. And a two-bedroom cottage with a large, luxury modern add-on in nearby Norfolk Street sold earlier this month for an astonishing $5.3m.
A renovated villa on nearby Rose Road in Grey Lynn sold for $3.41m in March, after changing hands eight months earlier for $2.356m. Photo / Supplied
