Remuera house designed by Vlad Cacala sells for $4.62m as hope returns to market

A mid-century house designed by celebrated architect Vlad Cacala sold under the hammer this week for $4.62 million, as agents and auctioneers reported a glimmer of hope in the Auckland housing market.

Six bidders competed for the smartly renovated four-bedroom home at the on Victoria Avenue, in Remuera, at Barfoot & Thompson's auctions this week.

Designed by Czech-born Cacala in 1960 for the family of former Auckland mayor Colin Kay, the property was bought by the current vendors in 2013 for $2.13m. It is a favourite among visiting architecture students, who admire the strong lines, thoughtful orientation and floor-to-ceiling joinery.

Barfoot & Thompson agent Rawdon Christie, who had marketed the house with colleague Steve Hood, told OneRoof that interest in the house was high, with strong bidding in the room pushing the price past the property's 2021 CV of $4.55m.

Christie said that eight other Barfoot & Thompson agents had brought buyers through the home during the marketing campaign.

“When other agents bring buyers through it’s because they’ve been looking for something specific for a while, they know they can match the buyers," he said.

Barfoot & Thompson auctioneer Marian Tolich said that she had seen an up-tick in buyer activity in the past week.

“There seems to be more buyers. We’re seeing more pre-auction offers and that’s something we haven’t seen in months,” she said.

“Branches are telling me they are seeing more listings. Buyers are at the stage of saying ‘we have to move, we’ll take what the market offers’.

“People who listen to the market are selling, I’m seeing first home buyers back in the market after all the bank restrictions.”

A renovated four-bedroom villa on Ohinerau Street, in Remuera, Auckland, sold at auction for $3.825m. Photo / Supplied

Barfoot & Thompson's sales figures June, released this week, point to some of challenges the city's housing market has been facing. While the agency's median sale price was up 2% on May's figure, and 3.5% higher than the median sale price for June 2021, sales volumes were hit hard, with the agency recording just 684 sales.

Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson said sales volumes for June were 12.5% down on May's tally and 45% down on June 2021's total.

“Sales of properties for the month were the lowest they have been in a June since 2010, when the market was recovering from what economists termed a ‘technical recession’.

“Rather than accept the prices on offer some homeowners are removing their homes from the market.

“Although we listed 1255 new properties during June, more than double the number we sold, total listings at month end had fallen by 0.5 percent on the previous month to 4676."

Tolich said that market shift had dented confidence. “It’s about the same [as 2010], we’re in the middle of winter. But people feel it’s worse because we were on such a high coming out of Covid. We were so surprised and then it kept on going," she said.

“There are plenty of ‘sales prevention’ friends and family thinking they’ve got to tell buyers they shouldn’t buy, but when did our houses become investments and not just places to live?”

Barfoot & Thompson agent Matt O’Brien said his successful sale of a three-bedroom cottage on Derwent Street, Western Springs, for $1.325m, showed that vendors who were realistic about the market were getting the sales.

A three-bedroom cottage on Derwent Street, Western Springs, sold at auction for $1.325m. Photo / Supplied

“This is entry-level for Western Springs, it was a cute wee house, nice for a first home buyer. We had three bidders and the vendors wanted to sell," he said.

“They knew it was not the same as six months ago, and they’re really thrilled with the result,” he said. The property had a ratings valuation of $1.36m.

Auctioneer Murray Smith said that while vendors aren’t arguing about a tougher market “if they’ve got a number in their head, it’s hard to change their minds.

“It’s a hard decision, people have to take a mind-shift from what they got last year.”

Buyers were out in force this week at Ray White Remuera’s auction rooms, where four bidders competed for a four-bedroom villa on Ohinerua Street, in Remuera.

It sold for $3.825m, “about right for the market”, said agent Steve Koerber, who marketed the property with colleague Nila Koerber.

“It had the X-factor, and we had buyers who were willing to compete for it," he said.

“We’re seeing people from 12 months ago, buyers who’ve missed out on seven or more homes. Unless it’s perfect, they’re just waiting.”

A villa on Kiwi Road, Devonport, sold for $2.38m. Photo / Supplied

Koerber agreed with Thompson’s comparison to the 2010 market. “The mood is the same, maybe 5% worse,” he said.

In Bayleys’ city auction rooms, national auction manager Conor Patton had two lots pass in – one for an entry level one-bedroom unit in Shirley Road, Grey Lynn that couldn’t get the vendor to agree to a $670,000 offer (the property had a CV of $630,000) and a smart two-bedroom apartment in a converted industrial building on Brown Street, Ponsonby, that had no bids over the vendor’s opening $1m.

Yet another smart three bedroom duplex on Clonbern Road, in Remuera, went for $1.87m (its CV is $1.8m) and a stylishly renovated four-bedroom villa house on Kiwi Road, in Devonport, fetched $2.38m, comfortably above its CV of $2.275m.

“Buyers are being more patient than they were [last year], but we still have properties that tick all the boxes,” Patton said.

“What we are seeing is buyers who were bruised and battered last year now feeling like it is within reach – Clonbern was an example of that.

“It’s futile to try to pick the bottom of the market, owners are genuine and it feels a bit more achievable [for buyers] now.”