There were big sales and multiple bidders out in force - at a socially responsible distance from each other - in the final auctions before the country went into lockdown.
In Auckland, at the Ray White Remuera auctions on Tuesday the top result was a renovated 1940s bungalow at 29 Harapaki Rd, Meadowbank, which sold under the hammer for $1.698 million, well above the reserve and just shy of $200,000 above the CV of $1.5 million.
Business owner Megan Jaffe quipped that she’d been saying to her agents and clients “bring 'em in, we’ll keep going until 11.59 pm Wednesday,” as the agency brought forward auctions to yesterday and today.
Chief auctioneer John Bowring had been criss-crossing town on Tuesday and Wednesday and called his last auction just hours before the lockdown came into effect.
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Remuera's top result was a renovated 1940s bungalow at 29 Harapaki Rd, Meadowbank which sold under the hammer for $1.698 million, well above the reserve and just shy of $200,000 above the CV of $1.5 million.
Bowring said that there were three registered bidders and 35 to 40 bids for 29 Harapaki Road.
Ray White agent John Lantz, who marketed the home, told OneRoof: “The eventual buyers had been rigorously searching for three months, going to 15 open homes a weekend. They knew they wanted it, this is the one."
Lantz said that while some potential buyers had pulled out because of economic uncertainty, others were confident. Another property he was marketing, a smart 1970s cross-lease flat at 4 Tahora Ave, Remuera, sold to the pre-auction bidders for $605,000, comfortably above its CV of $570,000.
“Again, these were first home buyers who’d missed out on another property in February, they knew what they wanted when they saw it. Despite what’s out there, they’d had finance approved,” he said.
Lantz said that by bringing auctions forward, some would-be buyers missed out as they could not get speedy finance approval from their lenders in the shorter turnaround time.
Across town at Royal Oak on Tuesday, Bowring sold two out of six properties on the evening’s slate. A tidy brick and tile unit at 941A Mt Eden Road, Mt Roskill, had 15 registered bidders and went for $1.322 million, well above vendor’s expectation. A 1930s brick cottage in the heart of Onehunga at 28 Jordan Rd had three bidders, and after 57 bids, finally achieved $1.017 million.
The other four lots were not so lucky, with no bidders coming forward. Buyers had the option to bid by phone, but Lantz and Bowering were surprised to see them turn up at the earlier Remuera auction, albeit socially distancing and carefully sanitising.
The company has a virtual auction planned for next week, so is keen to see how bidders come back to the market and accept the new way of property transacting.
The last Ray White auctions before lockdown saw a flurry of sales. A renovated villa at 4 Buchanan Street, in Kingsland, sold for $1.55 million after the auction had been brought forward. An earlier lot, a cottage at 5 Third Avenue, Kingsland, had two bidders driving the price to $1.31 million. Both were marketed by Robyn Ellson, who was also closing contracts on another property from last week's auction. And a stylishly renovated ex-State house at 44a Fir St, Waterview, attracted multiple bidders and sold under the hammer for $1.32 million.
Bowering said all the buyers had been looking for a while. "They just need somewhere to live. That's not going to change."
