A tiny one-bedroom studio in a student apartment block in central Auckland has broken price records - after selling for an ultra-low $19,500.
The property, in the UniLodge complex, was snapped up by an investor at a mortgagee sale held by Barfoot & Thompson on Wednesday.
The sale price, a tenth of the stated CV, is the lowest for a listed property this year, beating the $42,000 paid in June for a small one-bedroom apartment on Wakefield Street.
The studio is just 19sqm in size and occupants will have use of shared kitchen facilities, and there is a pool and BBQ area in the block.
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Barfoot & Thompson auctioneer Murray Smith, who called the auction, said that there were three or four bidders vying for the apartment, and all were experienced investors.
"These are people who know what they’re doing, they understand how it works,” Smith told OneRoof.
He said there was "a lot to digest" regarding the property. "It’s a leasehold, there’s the unique UniLodge situation and it’s a mortgagee sale.
“The bidders knew they were buying ‘as is’. They know what they are dealing with. There are no surprises – the law requires full disclosure.”
Bidding started at $5000 and went up in bids of $1000 and $500. “It went on the market at $18,000 and still kept going. We say there is not a huge amount of emotion in these auctions, but people still go ‘I want to beat you’.”
The sale price did not include GST.
Smith said that the mortgagor was not one of the high street banks, but still had a responsibility to get the best they can for a property, not just recover their costs.
He said that the CV of $195,000 "just shows you how ridiculous these CVs really are".
A bare block of land on Waiheke Island sold for $850,000 at a mortgagee sale. Photo / Supplied
Another apartment in the same block is heading to auction on Thursday lunchtime.
The 19sqm studio, with its own kitchenette and bathroom, is being marketed by Ray White agent Ryan Bridgman.
The leasehold studio has a CV of $180,000 and is billed as "a high cash flowing investment or a perfect city crash pad for a lucky kid going to uni".
The $19,500 record of Beach Road is a far cry from the one set last month by a penthouse in Auckland's Remuera.
The top-floor apartment at 308 Remuera Road sold under the hammer for $12,771,500, breaking New Zealand's top auction price record of $9.9m.
The Beach Road unit is one of several properties to have been offered up as mortgagee sales this week.
On Tuesday, the tender closed on one of the most high-profile mortgagee sales this year.
A mansion in Auckland’s St Marys Bay, whose owner had hoped would sell for $20 million when it first hit the market last December, had made headlines last month when it was re-listed as a mortgagee sale with Barfoot & Thompson.
Barfoot & Thompson agent Philip Davis, who marketed the property with Matt O’Brien, told OneRoof that he was unable to comment on the tender, saying there was a consideration period.
At a Bayleys auction on Wednesday, a 1,547sqm vacant section on Sea View Road, in Onetangi, Waiheke, sold for $850,000 - just below its CV of $880,000.
While the recent spike in interest rates and drop in house prices have raised the spectre of a rise in mortgagee sales, figures from OneRoof's data partner Valocity show current mortgagee sales make up just 0.1% of sales.
Smith told OneRoof that while vendors forced into mortgagee sales have not increased, there would be smart vendors selling now to stay ahead of tougher demands by lenders.
