A stylish four-bedroom house near the beach on Auckland’s North Shore sold under the hammer today for $3.585m after a stop-start auction campaign during lockdown.
The renovated house with a pool on Hamana Street, Narrow Neck, Devonport, had been scheduled to go to auction in mid-August, but was put on hold because of level 4, Bayleys agent Victoria Bidwell told OneRoof.
“Buyers had already viewed the property prior, but we’d shifted the auction to ‘forthcoming’ as people wanted certainty rather than mucking round changing dates.”
Bidwell, who marketed the property with son Charles Bidwell, said that interested buyers used the time to get organised, with several pre-auction offers submitted for several of their listings.
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Only one was acceptable and bidding started at $3.57m - well above the 2017 CV of $2.65m. Two bidders remained bidding in jumps of $1000 to $4000.
The house near Cheltenham Beach, Devonport, received several pre-auction offers before the auction was brought forward to Friday. Photo / Supplied
“Purchasers were of the mindset that ‘I know I want to buy it, I’m ready to go, there’s no reason to wait’,” she said.
“Vendors see an offer gives certainty, but they won’t accept something if they’re not happy with it. We’ve got quite a few buyers who sold before lockdown, they want certainty. But that doesn’t mean they can buy cheaply.”
Bidwell says that the size and location of the house, it’s finish, including a swimming pool, ticked a lot of boxes for Devonport buyers and there were several registered bidders. But, she added, unlike last year, vendors were not nervous about what would happen to the market once Auckland came out.
The house attracted several registered bidders, who dropped out when the pre-auction starting bid of $3.7m. Photo / Supplied
“It was a good auction, the vendor is very pleased.”
She anticipates in the next few weeks the combination of the usual flush of new listings in spring, combined with five weeks of pent-up supply, will bring better levels of stock to sell.
“It will all come at the same time. But it won’t be enough stock, there are still definitely more buyers.”
The top price in the seaside North Shore suburb this year is $5.05m for a house on Stanley Point Road. Photo / Supplied
OneRoof figures show the sale price is in the top five for Devonport this year. This summer the Bidwells sold a grand five-bedroom estate on 1768 sqm on Stanley Point Road for $5.05m, while another huge five bedroom property on Calliope Road, also in Stanley Point, went for $4.42m.
An almost completely rebuilt three-bedroom villa three properties back from Cheltenham Beach on Cheltenham Road, sold for $4.35m in April and in the same month Bidwell sold another four-bedroom villa steps from the beach for $4.125m.
Another villa on Calliope Road, Stanley Point, sold for $4.42m this summer. Photo / Supplied
The suburb’s largest deal on Cheltenham Beach for well over $5m is yet to settle, Bidwell said.
The pair are now holding off an auction date for a property at 7 Maleme Avenue, Belmont, as that was listed just two days before lockdown and had no viewings.
