A Christchurch businessman hopeful he had bought a tired but spacious townhouse for $1.2 million ended up having to shell out an extra $275,000 to beat off stubborn competition at the brought-forward auction.
The four-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse on Clare Road, in Merivale, had only been on the market for four days when a man who had been looking for a lock-and-leave in central Christchurch made a pre-auction offer on the townhouse.
But the plan to grab the house before too many people saw it backfired when a few days later he found himself in a bidding war with another buyer who also desperately wanted the standalone townhouse. A third buyer was also in the Harcourts Holmwood auction room earlier this month but failed to bid.
The auction opened at the accepted brought-forward offer of $1.2m and steadily rose in $10,000 bids. Several bolder bids of $20,000 bids made in an attempt to get rid of the competition were unsuccessful.
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By the time the price hit $1.445m bidding had slowed and a few smaller $5000 bids were placed before it eventually sold for $1.475m to the businessman who started it all off with the offer that brought the auction forward.
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Harcourts salesperson Kathryn Picton-Warlow, who had been working with the successful buyer, said she had no idea how much he had planned to bid.
“It got to the point where he didn’t want to lose it.”
The businessman was downsizing from a much larger Christchurch home and had viewed about six other centrally-located properties ranging from apartments to new townhouses. The Clare Road townhouse ticked all the boxes in terms of location and size, she said. It was also a corner section that could not be built out.
“He basically just wanted to own it. He wanted that location, he wanted proximity to the Hagley Park and the cafes in Victoria Street and really was just downsizing out of a large family home in Christchurch.”
The rooms were much larger than in newer townhouses, she said, but would be getting a complete makeover including a new kitchen and bathrooms.
Buyers were attracted to the townhouse's central location and size. Photo / Supplied
The new owner was planning to carry out a complete makeover including two new bathrooms and a kitchen. Photo / Supplied
“The spaces in these 2005 to 2010 properties – because the build costs weren’t so astronomical – the spaces are really generous and the living proportions are usually very good.”
Harcourts listing agent Paul Nichols said it was a tightly fought auction by what he could only assume were well-heeled and experienced bidders.
“They weren’t small bids, which tells you there are people out there that have capacity. They weren’t necessarily using all the budget they had for a property on that particular property,” he said.
“They were essentially looking to say, ‘look no I’m going to have it’, ‘I'm going to have it’.”
The elderly owner had lived in the home for almost 20 years and had moved into a retirement village. Her family, who had been selling it on her behalf, had been happy with the result which saw them walk away with a “significant” $275,000 more than they had been banking on when they accepted the pre-auction offer of $1.2m, Nichols said.
The impressive auction result comes as several homes in Christchurch’s posher suburbs such as Merivale and Fendalton have smashed expectations at auction selling for several hundred thousand dollars more than expected. Earlier this month a three-bedroom, one-bathroom 1950s brick house on Wai-Iti Terrace, in Fendalton, exceeded expectations when it sold for $1.1m.
Nichols said the reason these top suburbs were getting exceptional results could be because the type of people buying in those areas might have extra cash reserves and once they decided they would buy it, they were prepared to fight until the end.
“Whereas some of the other areas and locations you might find that the buyers just can’t go above the budget – they’ve pushed themselves to get the property and they often don’t have a much bigger budget to be able to go beyond that. Whereas a lot of Merivale and Fendalton-type buyers they have capacity, they have other means, they have other assets, other properties, other income streams.”
The average house values in Fendalton and Merivale are $1.747m and $1.577m respectively, which is well above Christchurch's average value of $790,000. Nichols said the $1.47m price for the Clare Road home was considered only mid-range for those areas. It’s not uncommon for homes to sell in the $2m to $3m-plus range and a luxury property at 8 Wood Lane, in Fendalton, currently has an asking price of $9.75m, which is the highest-ever fixed price for a property in the city. Merivale holds the city’s current highest price record when a house in Wairarapa Terrace sold for $8m.
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