Inner city Auckland has more land available to build on than people realise, says Derek von Sturmer from the Professionals Pt Chev.
The Unitary Plan has opened the way for a transformation of back yards and that’s started to happen in suburbs like Pt Chev.
Von Sturmer says watch out for the neighbour’s section - just because you have had a grassy patch over the fence for the past 40 years doesn’t mean it will stay that way.
Around his patch, people are demolishing their own older houses on existing sites and building new, or buying a site and either demolishing or removing the existing house to build new.
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He is marketing scarce waterfront land in Wainui Road, for example, and though there is a three-bedroom home already there the marketing highlights the land, which has full riparian rights, as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build your dream home at the water’s edge.
An 809 sq m section on Auckland's Point Chevalier waterfront is worth over $2m - without the house. Photo / supplied
There are few sections like this available any more, von Sturmer says, and people pay good money for them.
“The last place we sold on the waterfront that had views like this one would have been 10 Lister St and that sold for just under $3m and that house is going to be removed and a new house is going to be built there, so that was $3m for the site.”
Another one, in Bangor St, sold for $3.6m with the existing house to be removed and another to be built, and yet another listing in Bangor St had a new home built by Jalcon Homes which sold for $5.4m.
The Wainui Road site is a challenging one but once built on it would be amazing, von Sturmer says.
“We would imagine once it’s built it would be worth more than $4m.”
While these types of sections are scarce, there’s not such a scarcity of buildable land any more, he says.
People tend to think as long as they are not in a terrace house zone or an urban zone under the Unitary Plan they are safe from developments, but that’s not the case.
“I’ve had people build houses on a 170sq m lots in a suburban zone. People are now starting to cotton on to the fact you can really take advantage of the land that you’re on to build another property, whether or not you’re moving into it or you’re doing it to free up some money and pay some mortgage off.
“There are a number of town planners and architects that have really clued on to that and taken advantage of it, so just pushing the rules to the absolute limit. They understand the rules and they know what is able to be built.”
An example of what is possible is 32 Smale Street in Pt Chev which Professionals listed recently.
Once the site of a two-and-a-half bedroom bungalow, now there is a two bedroom townhouse and six apartments at entry level affordability.
“There’s nothing to stop you building multiple properties like that in the area on a smaller plot of land with the way that the Unitary Plan is set.”
And there has been a huge number of inquiries from people from all walks of life interested in buying, he says.
“It just goes to show what you can do with your own property. Like, if you’re sitting on a 650sq m site, you can put your property on 300sq m and build something on the back which is 300sq m, and then you’ve got the driveway of 50sq m.
“It doesn’t matter where you are, whether it be Westmere or Pt Chev or Western Springs or Avondale, you’ve got to really understand what the rules are and what could happen.”
Von Sturmer says he’s enjoying seeing people able to get into the market in areas they wouldn’t have once been able to.
“The Unitary Plan has allowed people to be able to do what they want to do with the land. It’s giving them more freedom to do what they want to do and we are seeing more new homes hit the market. “We’ve never had that before so it’s nice being able to have that availability for buyers in inner city areas.
“Even though it is scary for neighbours around and we are going to see a lot of change in the next ten years, I think it’s an exciting opportunity for people looking to get into the market.”
Von Sturmer says now more than ever people are looking to build, largely because the cost of renovation has skyrocketed and because with a new build you can set your budget without the unknowns of a renovation.
“I think there’s a real resurgence in the popularity of building new now and getting what you want.”
Across town, Sally Ridge, from Bayleys Auckland City Living, is marketing a Grey Lynn property that could end up demolished.
An ageing 1960s property in Grey Lynn on a generous 481 sq m is likely to be demolished for a new build. Photo / supplied
The 1960s stucco and brick build at 25 Dickens Street is pretty tired and would need a lot of work, she says.
“I think you’d spend a lot more renovating than you would building from scratch.”
Ridge says there are still plenty of people looking for land to build new on in the inner city but with so many villas in the area people often tart up the front and do a full renovation out the back.
You can run into heritage problems with demolishing so getting land and building from scratch can be a bonus.
The property in Dickens St, with a CV of $1.650m, isn’t heritage - but is a cool old house, she says.
“It’s got a lot of history behind it and it had five or six children grow up in it which is so lovely, and it’s still got the old traditional kitchen and bathroom and flooring - it’s pretty cool.”
People from the age of 25 to 60 had been viewing the property, possibly the younger ones with a view to renovating and the older ones perhaps more likely to bowl it and start from scratch.
