The auction scrap for $1 apartments: ‘I feel like I’ve just played a game of rugby’

The adrenaline was pumping as nearly 20 bidders fought over the right to own two central Auckland apartments that had been listed with $1 reserves.

The competition in the room at Bayleys’ auction on Wednesday pushed the price of the live-work units well over the $300,000 mark.

One of the ground-floor properties in the SugarTree apartment fetched $340,000, while the other was picked up for $310,000.

The units were sold with resource consents for live-work spaces, but would still need building consents and construction to make them habitable.

The listing agent, Bayleys’ Dean Budd, a former professional rugby player in Italy and Japan, said he was fielding calls from potential buyers right up until the auction started.

“I feel like I’ve just played a game of rugby. It was really fun – there was a really cool energy in the room,” he said.

“Hopefully people turn them into a really cool product, they’ll have done well. We achieved the price where everyone will sleep happy tonight.”

Budd said the vendor had auctioned units with a $1 reserve once before, back in March, and had gotten good results, but back then bidding started well above the reserve.

This time, Bayleys auctioneer Conor Patton was strict about starting the bids at $1. After a second bid of $100 for the first unit, the bidders showed they were serious, and pushed to $50,000.

Seven minutes and 46 bids later, the first unit was sold. The raw concrete space has a high enough stud to create a loft-style two-level apartment and comes with resource consents for a four-bedroom plus studio live/work space of about 156sqm.

One of the units in the SugarTree apartment block on Union Street has resource consent for four bedrooms and a live-work studio. Photo / Supplied

The listing agent said he was fielding calls from potential buyers right up until the auction started. Photo / Supplied

Finished apartments in the complex started at $650,000, Budd said.

Budd said the bidders were a mix of investors and owner-occupiers keen on getting a home and office foothold in the city.

“That residential aspect really appealed,” he said, adding that most of the unsuccessful bidders for the first unit put their hands up for the second unit later in the auction slate.

That unit, a 77sqm space, had resource consent for a one-bedroom live-work space but came with its own courtyard. Bidding for the unit skipped the $1, starting at $50,000 before the hammer came down 32 bids and four minutes later.

Budd said the vendors were very happy with the results which averaged at $4400 and $3900 per square metre, a better square metre rate than the $1 reserve auctions produced in March.

“The price reflects a better product. We couldn’t have predicted where the price would end up, we had no idea – that’s the market letting us know. Generally these are cash buyers, they don’t need finance,” he said.

The SugarTree complex of three towers between Union, Cook and Nelson streets is home to some 2000 people. Photo / Supplied