First home buyers used to zip down the motorway straight past Otahuhu, but the South Auckland suburb is on the rise and ripe for development, say agents.
For many buyers, Otahuhu and neighbouring Mangere and Otara were not seen as desirable places to lives, even though house prices in the suburbs were among the lowest in the city.
Five years ago, buyers could pick up a house in the area for between $500,000 and $700,000. Not anymore. According to the latest OneRoof-Valocity house prices figures, Otahuhu’s median property value sits at $910,000, while Mangere’s has crossed the $1m mark and Otara is a $835,000.
Tom Rawson, director of Ray White’s franchise in Manukau, said Otahuhu had a lot of older homes on big sections with development potential, and developers were prepared to pay big sums for them.
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“I think the main attraction for developers is that there is a lot of quarter acre sections in Otahuhu and they’ve been untouched,” he said.
“Twelve months ago an 800sqm property in Otahuhu might have sold for $800,000, but now you are looking at $1.2m. And people are trying to capitalise on that price spike by selling now.”
Ray White’s Otahuhu specialist, Candace Williams, told OneRoof that she had recently sold three neighbouring properties at on Brady Road to a developer for $2.125m – almost $1m above their combined 2017 CV.
A waterfront property on Princes Street East, in Otahuhu, sold for $1.451m in May. Photo / Supplied
In May she sold a 913sqm site on the Tamaki River waterfront with a very old and rundown brick and tile house for $1.451m – more than $400,000 above CV - to buyers who plan to develop the site later on.
Williams said that first home buyers had also twigged to the area.
“I bought my house in Otahuhu three years ago with the feeling it would take off here and the values have risen a lot in that time, given its proximity to the motorway, Mt Wellington, Sylvia Park, all of those things,” she said.
“It’s funny because when I bought my house here everyone said to me I was crazy and now all the first home buyers are begging, ‘Candace, please can we buy a house in Otahuhu.’”
It’s a great area to start out, she said. “We just need a new café and some nice shops in town and it’s going to be the next Onehunga.”
Sam Steele, Ray White’s new national lead auctioneer, said there was a new-found confidence in South Auckland.
A three-bedroom home on Waimate Street, in Otahuhu, sold for just under $1m at auction. Photo / Supplied
“That’s been reflected not only with the inquiry that we’re seeing but also with the prices that are being achieved at auction,” he said.
Last week Steele sold 13 properties under the hammer in a single night for Ray White Manukau for a combined total of $19m.
One the properties sold was a three-bedroom weatherboard home on Waimate Street, which fetched $940,000 - $370,000 above CV and more than $640,000 above what it last sold for in 2012.
Steele said the confidence in the housing market generally was driving the confidence in South Auckland.
What was great about Otahuhu, he said, was it still had a good number of relatively affordable family homes. “It’s an area where people are starting to look at other options and they’re certainly getting a lot for their money out there,” he said.
