A huge development site of six homes and one commercial property sold under the hammer this week for $8.3 million as developers compete for large sections in South Auckland.
Bayleys agent Shane Snijder, who marketed the 5388sqm site on the corner of Great South Road and Manuroa Road in Takanini with Peter Sullivan, says over 50 developers enquired about the site.
“Takanini is not everyone’s cup of tea, but this is a prime corner site 100 metres from the train station,” Snijder says.
He says there were eight or nine bidders with budgets of around $8m – bids quickly blew past the opening bid of $3m – pushing the price per square metre to a record $1540.
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The vendor had accumulated the seven sites ranging in size from 809sqm to 936sqm over many decades. One property had been bought in 1997 for $480,000, others in the early 2000s for $112,000, $120,000 and $300,000, and earned a respectable $184,000 gross income from the six two- and three-bedroom houses and one car yard.
Buyers are attracted by the affordable prices, proximity to trains and motorway and amenities at the brand new Takanini village. Photo / Supplied
Snijder says the buyer, a high net worth local, may well just hold the properties while planning what to fit on the land, zoned for medium density of mixed housing urban.
“You can build a multi-level up to 11m high. It’s got a lot of good growth in South Auckland, developers have a real comfort buying here. It’s close to bus stops, the railway, the new Takanini village is five minutes away and there’s a Kainga Ora development next door.”
Sullivan says that growth is now on land on the rural edges of Takanini all the way down to the Mill Road corridor with Alfriston and Drury, but expects some land will just be banked, not built on.
“Some buyers have a 10-year hold plan, they take the longer view on the asset, it’s giving them a better return on their money. Eventually they’ll sell to a developer, demand for housing is not going to stop.”
Sullivan says new home buyers are attracted to new development in Takanini over infill in older centres like Otahuhu or Papakura.
Terraces and townhouses for sale in Takanini. Photo / Supplied
“In the last two to three years it’s had a huge drawcard. People love the brand new Takanini village and the supercentre, there’s easy parking, all the shops and cafes, and that’s dragged a lot more development money here. If you look at Papakura, there are empty shops and no parking.”
While the Addison development in Takanini, Auckland’s first master planned community, opened in 2008, Sullivan says there was a pause after the GFC and it was only recently that growth restarted.
“It’s attracting a lot of young people, they love the trains and local transport, it’s very easy to drive in and around. There’s a good mix of terrace and standalone homes, new schools, it’s exciting growth as it’s turning into a nice little village.
“A house and land package of around $1m – it's as affordable as you’ll get in Auckland.”
In Stage 9 of the Addison development in Takanini, nearly 20 townhouses sold out in less than two weeks. Photo / Supplied
Harcourts Papatoetoe owner Harsimran Singh agrees, saying it has only been this year that buyers have really focussed on development potential in Takanini and surrounds.
“Everywhere - Takanini, Papakura, Manurewa – heaps of people are getting into it, buyers are creating syndicates. There’s a market for the finished homes, both owner occupiers and the odd person who is getting into investment. They’ve got equity in their own home, it’s time to look at another property.”
Singh says that home buyers are looking at Takanini from as far afield as west Auckland, but prices have shot up.
“A four-bed, two-bath house on 200sqm of land in January would get $900,000, barely passing $1m. Now you’re looking at $1.14m. People prefer standalone houses, and most of the new builds are terraces, so brand-new places stand out.”
Harcourts agent Ruby Manak, who is marketing townhouses and terraces in both Addison and wider Takanini, says that buyers are paying $1.18m for a four-bedroom standalone house.
“In Papakura, you might get terraces for $800,000 to $825,000 but standalone houses are more in demand than terraces or townhouses, so that makes them more valuable.”
Lawrence Yuan of Barfoot & Thompson is marketing Stage 9 townhouses in Addison, where nearly 100 houses are coming to market. He says nearly 20 two-level, three-bedroom brick and linea weatherboard homes, asking in the low $800,000, sold out in two weeks, with just one left to sell.
