The owner of a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Ilam got an unexpected windfall when their home sold under the hammer for $1.202 million – $252,000 more than what they were banking on.
The Ilam property is one of at least 10 properties that were snapped up in brought-forward auctions in Christchurch last week, with six scoring more money as several buyers competed for them.
The brought-forward auction for the four-bedroom, two-bathroom brick home on Coniston Avenue at the Harcourts Gold auction room on Thursday attracted six bidders who battled it out for the property.
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The Coniston Avenue home was well-presented and attracted families and people wanting to be close to the university. Photo / Supplied
Bidding opened at $950,000, which was the price the owners had accepted and moved the auction ahead of schedule, but it continued for several hundred thousand dollars more.
Harcourts Grenadier salesperson Andrew Steel said by the time it reached the $1.1m mark there were just two bidders left fighting for it.
“As it was between the two there was a bit of toing and froing and then it hit the $1.2m, and the other party ended up paying a couple of thousand more, and that just closed it off.”
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The Coniston Ave home seemed to hit a sweet spot with buyers, he said, and they even held an impromptu open home on the Thursday after it was listed because of all the interest it received. The first open home attracted 12 groups and then another 48 groups viewed it over the first weekend of open homes.
The home was well-presented and the owners had done their homework by getting all the information such as building reports ready for prospective buyers.
But neither he or the owner had anticipated that the house would sell for $1.202m.
“The surprise was the result. But I had intimated to people where I saw values, but it just went north of that. It was well above the vendor’s expectations because they had already accepted $950,000 so they were happy to sell at $950,000.”
The main interest in the property was from people who were looking at it as a family home or parents who were buying it for their children to live in and attend university.
“Not treating it as a varsity flat, but that they could get to varsity because it was not that far away.”
At the same auction, a property on Koe Street, in Lake Brunner, opened at $785,000 and sold for $825,000. Earlier in the week at Harcourts Grenadier’s auction rooms an ‘as is, where is’ three-bedroom home on Diamond Ave, in Spreydon, opened at $650,000 and sold for $805,000, and a property on Nottingham Avenue, in Halswell, sold for $701,000 with just one bidder.
There are at least two more brought-forward auctions already planned at Harcourts Grenadier this week.
Steel said it was hard to pinpoint exactly what made a property more attractive to buyers, but generally well-presented properties in good areas tended to do well.
“If I knew the magic formula for it I’d bottle it.”
He also believed auction was the best way to get the top result.
“If you are ever going to get a record price, it’s going to be at auction.”
The new owner of the property in Hawford Road, in Opawa, arrived at the auction at the last minute and placed the winning bid of $843,000. Photo / Supplied
While a mystery bidder surprised the auction room at Harcourts Holmwood after he turned up for the auction of the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home at Hawford Road, Opawa, at the last minute. He ended up swiping the property from the original buyer whose offer enticed the owners to bring the auction forward. The auction opened at $800,000 and after 15 bids sold under the hammer for $843,000.
Harcourts Holmwood auctioneer Mark Goldrick said the “mystery bidder” had kept his cards close to his chest and the agent hadn’t known he was going to turn up because he had not been replying to text messages.
There were also two other brought-forward auctions at Harcourts Holmwood last week. A three-bedroom, two-bathroom home on Glenbarr Lane, in Yaldhurst, sold under the hammer after just one bid for $830,000, while an ‘as is, where is’ home on Oldwood Street, in Bishopdale, was brought forward due to the huge amount of interest it had received and not because of one specific offer. It sold for $405,000.
Goldrick said there were a lot more brought-forward auctions happening, which could be due to more buyers being in the market and some wanting it all sorted by Christmas.
“... they think it’s not going to be more affordable than it is now.”
However, he said it was hard to know whether there would continue to be more brought-forward auctions because it often came down to the buyer.
“Every auction campaign someone might suggest it and say I’m thinking about putting in a pre-auction offer, but they often just chicken out.”
Of the three properties that sold under the hammer at Harcourts Gold’s auction rooms last week, three were brought forward-auctions and two had multiple bidders that hiked the price up.
Harcourt Gold auctioneer Mark Morrison said there had been six brought-forward auctions in the last two weeks and there seemed to be a lot of demand for houses under $1m.
“First-home buyers are relatively active and are understanding the benefits of getting themselves in an unconditional position in order to bid under auction conditions.”
There were two people bidding on the house on Palmers Road, in New Brighton, which sold under the hammer for $832,000. Photo / Supplied
The properties selling early were scattered around Christchurch with a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home on Palmers Road, in New Brighton, opening at $820,000 and selling for $832,000 and a house on Hounslow Street, in Ilam, also starting at $820,000 and selling for $857,000. Both had two bidders competing for them.
A four-bedroom, two-bathroom home on Elba Crescent, in Hounslow, was won with just one bid of $1.2m by the person whose offer had been accepted, causing the auction to be bought forward.
Morrison said they expected to be busy right up until Christmas as more listings hit the market in the next month.
“... whether buyers continue to bring auctions forward remains to be seen, however a lot will want to secure property sooner rather than later while their current pre-approvals from the banks are still current.”
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