Buyers paid $4.788 million under the hammer this week for a do-up property on one of Auckland's most desirable streets. And that’s the spend before starting renovations, which could easily reach $2 million, says Ray White Remuera agent Steve Koerber, who marketed the home.
Koerber billed the house at 28 Ridings Road, Remuera, as “Grand Designs ready”. With 860 sq m of flat land, a recently added swimming pool and enviable views across the valley the double grammar zone house was considered entry level for the area.
“For some families, it was a way to get into a premium street. It’s a real Catch-22 because do you pay more to get a house that is already done?" says Koerber.
"Under-capitalised opportunities like this (almost the worst house in the best street scenario) are truly rare. For this quality of house, you’d expect to pay $2 million to renovate, and then there’s the time."
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The house had a smart new pool, but would need extensive renovations to bring it up to the standard of the rest of the street, agents say. Photo / supplied
“Some people will stretch their budget to get a house that is all done,” he says. The Ridings Road buyers, who are moving from the North Shore for schooling, saw the value of the prime street location, paying a record $5,567 per sqm of land.
He points to a property at 5 Tirohanga Avenue, off prestigious Victoria Avenue, which he is bringing to auction next week with his wife and business partner Nila. The owners have spent around $2 million on the complete refurbishment of the two-storeyed arts and crafts 1920s house on 814sqm.
The extensively renovated arts and crafts house at 5 Tirohanga Avenue goes to auction next week. Photo / Supplied
That passed the suburb's previous high mark set when the $8 million sale earlier this year of 147a Arney Rd translated to $5,372 per sqm, and 2555 sq m water-edge property at the eastern beaches suburb 689 –685 Riddell Road, Glendowie which went for $7.435 million or $2913 per sq m.
“[This street] is even more expensive than cliff-top", Koerber says, with an average sale price since 2017 of almost $4,500,000, and an average CV even higher.
Across in Ponsonby, Ray White agents Angela Saunders and Pamela Grant sold a historic Freemans Bay villa at 42 Wood Street, for $3.725 million.
A house at 42 Wood Street sold for the first time since 1983 for $3.725 million. Photo / supplied
The house had attracted 99 visits to the property and 68 groups through, Saunders said, with some visiting the home five times. The buyers already live in the street and the under-bidder lives close by too, she said.
“The market just continues to get hotter and hotter. With low interest rates and demand very much outstripping the supply, it’s the perfect recipe for people to be listing and selling now.”
The property was owned by well-known creative couple, artist Pamela Wolfe, and writer Richard Wolfe, who has published extensively on Kiwiana. They bought the house in 1983 for $135,000, according to OneRoof records, but told OneRoof they'd actually knew the house from 1970s parties.
They had built a top floor studio for Pamela and dug out the basement into a workshop for Richard, but carefully preserved the beautiful heritage features of the home, including several original fireplaces, sash windows and kauri floors.
A renovated bungalow in One Tree Hill sold this week for $2.75 million at Bayleys’ auctions yesterday, nearly $1 million above CV. Photo / supplied
Another immaculately renovated property at 68 Amaru Road, One Tree Hill also yielded its owners $2.75 million at Bayleys’ auctions yesterday, nearly $1 million above CV. OneRoof records show the property last changed hands eight years ago for $930,000, but again the owners had extensively renovated, with additions in keeping with the original bungalow style.
Bayleys sales manager Glenn Baker told OneRoof that in just the first weekend of open homes, the property attracted 42 groups through, with a total of 114 groups through the campaign. The auction was brought forward, with 12 bidders registered for the auction and bids starting at $2.3 million.
"All the renovations were kept period correct with fabulous detail. Needless to say people were wowed on viewing and appreciate just how much it costs to do that sort of renovation these days," Baker says.
“There’s a lot more confidence in the area. Quite a few people come to One Tree Hill to get closer to Cornwall Park, but they want to stay close to their friends and the Onehunga lifestyle.”
119 Galway Street, Onehunga, zoned for apartments and terrace houses sold under the hammer $1.545 million, $345,000 over CV. Photo / supplied
Also sold at auction last night was another development site at 119 Galway Street, Onehunga that went for $1.545 million, $345,000 over CV. The large villa on 627 sq m site in the heart of Onehunga village, where single family sites are in demand for their apartment zoning.
