A stylishly-renovated villa in Auckland's Grey Lynn sold under the hammer this week for $4 million - more than $300,000 above its 2021 CV.
The four-bedroom home on Sussex Street, marketed by Bayleys agent Blair Haddow, was one of several high-end homes up for grabs at Auckland's auctions this week.
The sale price bucked the downwards trend seen in the rest of the market and was a prime example of buyer demand for hi-spec homes in good locations.
The previous owners of the Sussex Street villa had given the tired house with 1970s concrete additions a top-to-toe renovation after it had changed hands in 2009 for just $709,000.
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The transformed square-front cottage now sports a new bay window classic villa façade, a new open-plan living addition at the rear with a luxury kitchen and a heated pool in the backyard.
And the ground floor has an internal double garage, rare in the inner city, plus a large rumpus room.
Haddow said in his advertising that the home was premium urban living at its best. Bidding reached $3.7m, but after a 15-minute negotiation, the villa sold for $4m. Records show it last changed hands in 2015 for $2.4m.
Another renovated villa, on Clarence Street, in neighbouring Ponsonby, also found a buyer at Bayleys' auction on Wednesday. The three-bedroom home, marketed by Edward Pack, fetched $3.1m - $175,000 above its CV.
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OneRoof records show the property had sold four years ago for $2.52m. Earlier renovations had turned around a tired original condition villa and it now featured an immaculately landscaped garden and pool, a stylish open-plan family room and kitchen, separate dining and living rooms and two bathrooms.
Two other renovated villas - a four bedroom on 304sqm at 55 Summer Street, in Ponsonby, and an architecturally-designed four-bedroom at 53 Rose Road, in Grey Lynn - passed in at the same auction and are still on the market.
In Barfoot & Thompson auctions, a four-bedroom villa with a swimming pool at 22 Trinity Street, in Herne Bay, marketed by Carl Madsen and Luke Dallow, passed in at $3.2m. Records show it changed hands two-and-a-half years ago for $3.3m. Dallow's other auction property, a six-bedroom villa on Lincoln Street, Ponsonby, divided into two flats and billed as a good rental property awaiting a transformation, also passed in. It has a CV of $2.125m.
A three-bedroom house with a pool on Clarence Street, Ponsonby, Auckland,
A four-bedroom home at 55 Summer Street, in Ponsonby, Auckland, is back on the market after passing at auction. Photo / Supplied
Some recent dramatic renovations of Grey Lynn dumps have remained in the hands of their sellers. A transformed and modernised three-bedroom villa on Harcourt Street, Grey Lynn, which had been bought the year earlier for $2.23m, failed to sell at auction in April last year. It was withdrawn from the market in July after buyers hadn’t bitten at later asking prices of $3.829m and then $3.775m.
Original condition dumps in Grey Lynn and Ponsonby are increasingly hard to find and increasingly expensive to renovate, according to LJ Hooker agent Jason Trowbridge.
“I’ve specialised in these do-ups for over 30 years, it’s very challenging at the moment because you’re looking for a unique buyer. They are facing a cost of building going up 30% to 40%, interest rates on $1m have gone from $20,000 to $70,000 a year – and then there’s the appetite at the other end,” he said, adding that there are over 40 listings in the area compared to an average of five or six over the past years.
“There is a huge number more vendors than buyers. ”
Trowbridge said the price fetched in October last year for another run-down house on Rose Road, $2.1m (it had a CV of $2.4m) would be “a different scenario today". “I’ve never seen a market as challenging in 30 years.”
53 Rose Road, in Grey Lynn, fell short of its reserve and is back on the market. Photo / Supplied
A deceased estate on 34 Prosford Street, Ponsonby, with a CV of $2.85m is one of the last un-done places in the suburb. Photo / Supplied
However, buyers for the run-down do-up villa he has on 34 Prosford Street, Ponsonby, a deceased estate on the market for the first time in 40 years, are there – a mix of developers with deep pockets or owner-occupiers willing to take on a project. The property, which goes to auction March 15, has a CV of $2.85m.
A similar property on the same street was bought in run-down condition in mid-2019 for $1.656m and sold again for $4.788m two years later at the height of the market.
“It’s one of the last old places in Ponsonby, on a very coveted street, houses are getting $4m to $6m along the street,” Trowbridge said.
It comes as Auckland's largest real estate agency, Barfoot & Thompson, reports that it sold just 410 homes in February, down from January and 45% less than February last year.
Managing director Peter Thompson blames the extreme weather for "hobbling" the usually busy month, and making this the slowest month of trading in 20 years, excluding Covid lockdown.
New listings were up 21.5% on last February, and the number of properties for sale has ballooned to 4873, the highest for 10 years.
Thompson also noted that just 6% of the company's sales were for properties over $2m, well down on the usual 10%.
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