An abandoned property in one of Auckland's prized suburbs sold for just over $1 million this week despite requiring major renovation work to make it liveable.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom house on Towle Place, in Remuera, sold under the hammer for $1.07m with 43 bids taken on the property from eight active bidders before it finally sold.
The derelict property, which has gaping holes on the bathroom floor, was on a small 380sqm cross lease section backing onto the popular Waiatarua Reserve dog park. It was sold “as is where is”.
The house was abandoned about 10 years ago when the owner returned to Israel and died there.
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A relative lived there for some time which was when the property ended up being filled with junk.
Ray White Parnell agent Steve Stone said six truckloads of rubbish were taken from the property before it went on the market and they had to put health and safety signs in the bathroom because there were big gaping holes in the floor.
The property needs a lot of work to bring it up to standard. Photo / Supplied
“It was pretty unsafe. It had a terrace that had been closed in and had been refused consent so it wasn’t legal. The house didn’t have CCC so it was a bit of a project for someone.”
Stone said the property was not liveable in its current condition.
About 80 groups of people attended the open home – about eight times as many as he was seeing through other properties at the moment – but some of those were “stars in their eyes” first-home buyers who had been unable to get financing on it, he said.
Not the entertainer's kitchen Remuera residents are used to. Photo / Supplied
The eight groups that actually bid on the property were mainly developers and builders. It eventually sold to a local resident for about 30% above the reserve. It had a CV of $1.45m, but the real estate listing told prospective buyers to ignore that.
“I think it was a lot more than we expected, a lot more than most people expected so it was definitely good money for sure. You would either have to rebuild it and the cost of doing that would be around $400,000.”
Stone said it was rare for properties in such a bad state to come on the market and when they did, not all attracted as much interest as the Towle Rd property.
The average property value for Remuera in the three months to the end of May was $3.04m, according to the latest OneRoof-Valocity house price report.
