Developers and families priced out of Auckland’s prized double grammar zone are pushing up property values in the city’s inner suburb of Meadowbank.
The suburb’s average property value has risen almost half million dollars in the last 12 months to just over $2 million. That’s still more affordable than neighbouring Remuera, now at $3.297m.
Ray White agent John Lantz remembers selling the first $2m property in Meadowbank nearly nine years ago, but said there were homes in the suburb that could easily fetch $3.5m or more.
“It was a bit of a dormant suburb when I sold back then,” Lantz said.
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He told OneRoof that the $2m record was set by a luxury five-bedroom home with pool that a builder had created after demolishing a 1950s two-bed house on Meadowbank Road that he bought for just under $600,000.
“That $2m bracket, unheard of then, now can’t buy you much. It is shocking how much the prices have escalated,” Lantz said.
Last year’s top three settled sale prices for Meadowbank were all over $3m: a six-bedroom 1970s house on Gowing Drive sold for $3.18m, a five year old three bedroom house and pool on Macpherson Street for $3.15m and a renovated four bedroom home with pool and pool house on Bonnie Brae Road that went for $3.11m.
Above, the luxury Meadowbank Road house that broke Meadowbank’s sale price record nine years ago. Below, the house before its transformation. Photos / Supplied
Lantz told OneRoof that about 80% of owners in the suburb decide to upgrade their property and stay in the area instead of selling, attracted by the central location and train station.
“They can throw $2m into their property and still be $1m ahead if they had to pack up and move into a different house in the same area. They are investing money back into their own home by adding a bedroom, a garage, a pool, an outdoor entertaining area,” he said.
Two good local primary schools are the biggest draw card for the buyers, who mainly tend to be families, and Lantz said competition to get into those school zones can be as competitive as that to get into double grammar.
A six-bedroom 1970s house on Gowing Drive, in Meadowbank, sold for $3.18m, one of the top settled sale prices in 2021. Photo / Supplied
“Buyers know that in Meadowbank school zone means they have a draw card up their sleeve when it later comes to selling.”
While the majority of stock in the neighbourhood is renovated family homes on about 700sqm sections, there are streets in Meadowbank that are dominated by the suburb’s original two-bedroom state homes. These are snapped up very quickly, when they come up on the market. Lantz said a developer buying an original two-bedroom brick and tile home could easily replace it with a luxury new build that could fetch $3.5m.
Those developer buyers will be heartened by the success of luxury The Teal on Orakei that sold out last year, and the more moderately priced Risland Meadowbank where 70% of the 90 apartments are sold down at prices starting from under $900,000.
For residential properties, last year’s top settled prices were just over $3.1m: a six-bedroom 1970s house on Gowing Drive sold for $3.18m, a five year old three bedroom house and pool on Macpherson Street for $3.15m and a renovated four bedroom home with pool and pool house on Bonnie Brae Road that went for $3.11m.
Lantz told OneRoof that about 80 percent of owners decide to upgrade their property and stay in the area instead of selling, attracted by the central location but not at the double grammar zone prices of nearby Remuera or Epsom.
A pair of houses on over 4500 sqm of development land on Harapaki Road, sold for $5.47m. Photo / Supplied
While most properties in the suburb are owner occupied, the few rental homes get snapped up very quickly.
Overseas buyers of a house Lantz recently sold have rented it for $2200 a week until they can get back into the country.
“It’s a fair amount of money for a rental property but it’s the type of the house that demands that kind of price,” he said.
Bayleys agent Lorraine Young said that the suburb was known as the “gateway to the bays” - St Heliers, Kohimarama and Mission Bay, where average property value has reached between $2.6m and $2.7m.
“You’re only 10 minutes to the beaches, but the train station is amazing, only two stops and you’re in the city. That’s hard to achieve if you live in St Heliers,” she said.
Hotspot are areas close to the train station with city views - Young named Fancourt and Temple streets and Appleyard Crescent as being popular with buyers - or streets near Rutherford Reserve such as Rutherford Terrace and Ripon Crescent.
Late last year two big tracts of development land sold for top prices - a 1785sqm site on Fancourt Street for $4.75m in July and a pair of properties on over 4500 sqm on Harapaki Road, near the train station, that fetched $5.47m in April.
A pair of houses on over 4500 sqm of development land on Harapaki Road, sold for $5.47m. Photo / Supplied
Those developer buyers will be heartened by the success of luxury The Teal on Orakei that sold out last year, and the more moderately priced Risland Meadowbank where 70% of the 90 apartments are sold down at prices starting from under $900,000.
- Additional reporting Catherine Smith
