A four-bedroom villa overflowing with rubbish sold for an ultra-low $235,000 at a mortgagee auction this week.
The do-up property on Harris Street, in Huntly, Waikato, was snapped up by a local first-home buyer after fast bidding at Bayleys Hamilton’s auction on Thursday.
Listing photos on OneRoof showed the house was in a poor state, with junk piled up in every room and what appeared to be mould visible on the ceiling. The exterior was also rough, with the garden overgrown.
In his marketing, Bayleys listing agent Michael Parker said the house would appeal to those with a “fondness for adding value through an interior and exterior refresh”.
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Bayleys auctioneer Stephen Shale told OneRoof that the property had been difficult to access during the campaign, as it was “quite untidy”, and that the value lay mainly in the 803sqm section.
Even so, the house was in demand on auction day, attracting determined buyers who were ready to bid hard to take ownership. The opening offer was a low $100,000 but the price quickly escalated over the course of 18 bids. Shale said the new owner planned to renovate the property and live there.
The $235,000 sale price is Huntly’s lowest for a residential property in the last year-and-a-half. Only two other properties in Huntly have sold for less than $300,000 since January 2023. Both were on Harris Street and sold in an “as is, where is” condition.
The Harris Street property sold under the hammer for $235,000 after some ping-pong bidding. Photo / Supplied
Agents said the house was "quite untidy" and had been difficult to access. Photo / Supplied
Harcourts Riverlands general manager Dallas Hodge said the cheaper “as is, where is” houses were anomalies. While not many came up for sale, she said they were the ones attracting the most attention at the moment.
Her agency has had several “as is, where is” properties for sale so far this year including a three-bedroom house on Te Ohaki Road that sold for below $235,000. The exact sale price cannot be revealed until after settlement.
Hodge said it attracted quite a bit of interest mainly from builders due to the large amount of work required to bring it up to scratch. The kitchen and bathroom were original and there were holes in the ceiling and floor.
Another “as is, where is” two-bedroom, one-bathroom property on Joseph Street in Pukemiro, also at the low end of the market, was also under offer.
“The deadline sales are working quite well in terms of properties that are a little bit different and do need some work.”
Hodge said about nine years ago almost half their buyers were from Auckland, but now with the opening of the expressway they were getting more enquiries from people in Hamilton looking to buy their first home.
The town appeared to be split into two areas with properties in Huntly East attracting premium prices compared to Huntly West.
The cheapest properties tended to be “as is, where is” properties in Huntly West followed by more liveable houses in and around Harris Street that could be picked up for a price in the $400,000s. A recently renovated two-bedroom, one-bathroom home at 125 Harris Street is for sale with a $445,000 price tag.
A three-bedroom, one-bathroom property on Te Ohaki Road, in Huntly West, was expected to sell for even less than the Harris Road property. Photo / Supplied
The property had not been occupied for some time and had missing parts of the ceiling. Photo / Supplied
Hodge said these properties had traditionally attracted investors, but more recently there had been interest from first-home buyers.
“Some of the first-home buyers might be getting a little bit worried about the stuff in the media where it is saying once the bright-line changes in July that some of those investors might come back to the market. So they are starting to look to get into those cheaper properties potentially before investors start coming back to the market.”
In Huntly East, entry-level properties around the high-$400,000 price range such as this three-bedroom, one-bathroom Skyline-built home at 14 William Street that would suit first-home buyers has an asking price of $489,000.
At the higher-end, properties like this three-bedroom, two-bathroom house at 38 Kimihia Road with lake views has an asking price of $680,000. A large four-bedroom, two-bathroom home, also on Kimihia Road, on the edge of Lake Hakanoa recently sold for $872,000 to a Wellington couple. Both these homes were in Huntly East.
Lodge salesperson Lally Sandhu classed properties selling in the $200,000 range as “bargains”, adding that entry-level houses in the town usually started around $375,000.
Sandhu said a lot of the buyers he was working with were either South Auckland investors or owner-occupiers moving to Huntly from South Auckland so they could be mortgage-free.
The new Sleepyhead 6000sqm-plus foam factory due to open next month was also attracting more people to the town, he said, while they waited for the Ohinewai residential development to begin.
They could sell a property in South Auckland for $750,000 and buy the same property for about $550,000 in Huntly East and $450,000 in Huntly West, he said.
“Depending on the situation and location of the property, you can always find a bargain on the west side.”
Sandhu is selling a three-bedroom, one-bathroom brick home on a 1112sqm section at 32 Smith Avenue, in Huntly West, for $475,000.
“The same sort of house on that section say in Papakura would be close to a $1m.”
For those willing to pay a bit more and be in Huntly East, a three-bedroom, one-bathroom property at 10 Dudley Avenue on what he described as one of the best streets in Huntly could be snapped up for $575,000.
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