A trio of $4.9 million sales last week and more sales over $3m in central Auckland show that upper-end buyers did not take their usual summer pause.
A landmark five-bedroom heritage home on a rare 1012sqm site on Wainui Avenue in Point Chevalier, a bungalow on a development site on Platina Street in Remuera and a modern four-bedroom home on the Seymour Street enclave just off Jervois Road in Saint Marys Bay all attracted multiple bidders and pushed prices above expectations.
The $4.9m price for the Wainui Avenue, Point Chevalier property, marketed by Ray White’s Derek von Sturmer and Lawrence von Sturmer, is the third highest ever in the suburb – beaten only by a waterfront property on Bangor Street that sold for $5.4m in 2018 and the $5.21m sale of an architect-designed house on Harbour View Road in October last year.
“The whole market changed for this time of year, people were shopping over the holidays,” Lawrence says.
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“Things have changed as people are used to working online, they’re overseas buyers or can do video calls remotely when they’re in Queenstown or Omaha.
“There’s not a lot that comes up in the $4m bracket, so they’re on to it.”
The von Sturmers are seeing pre-auction offers from buyers desperate to beat out the competition. The auction on a four-bedroom, across from Point Chevalier beach on Harbour View Road, at the end of January was brought forward with a pre-auction offer of $4.1m and sold under the hammer for $4.4m.
Six bidders competed for a heritage house on Wainui Avenue, Point Chevalier, which sold for the suburb's third highest price of $4.9m. Photo / Supplied
The von Sturmers said buyers looking at Point Chev are now budgeting for between $4m and $5m, moving away from Herne Bay, Ponsonby and Westmere for better value waterfront property that is still in central Auckland.
“We would not have a problem selling fifteen $4m-$5m-dollar properties in the next six weeks, we just need to find those houses,” Derek says.
Lawrence says that buyers are looking for something unique at that price point, “they’re just waiting for the right place to come up.”
Derek adds that people buying or living in the area are adjusting to a new landscape of townhouses being built next door – upsetting for some, but others are not fazed.
“It’s a part of urbanisation and more people are looking to come into the central suburbs expecting that at some stage it will be developed. But there are pockets of Point Chev where the land value is far too high for what a developer would be prepared to pay.”
The suburb is mainly zoned for mixed housing suburban but developers are targeting their denser builds in the area towards Great North Road, where the site could cost around $2m-$3m, he adds.
A modern house on Seymour Street, Saint Marys Bay in central Auckland sold for $4.9m. Photo / Supplied
Bayleys agent Robyn Clark, who marketed the luxury house on Seymour Street through January – much earlier than the traditional February market start at the upper end, says the three bidders and a lot of interest in the property showed buyers were ready to move and not wait it out through January.
The 290sqm refurbished 1990s house on a 400sqm section had a 2017 ratings valuation of $3.1m.
“A really good location, close to Jervois Road and the cafes and shops, with great harbour views, there are only a small number of those that come up, so people moved,” Clark says.
In Remuera this week eight bidders competed for a three-bedroom bungalow on Platina Street, with the hammer coming down at $4.92m.
Ray White agent Steve Koerber, who marketed the property with Nila Koerber, said a mix of homeowners and developers were attracted to the 999sqm double grammar zone site zoned for density, on the market for the first time in 42 years.
The auction for a four-bedroom house on Harbour View Road, Point Chevalier was brought forward, with the house selling for $4.4m. Photo / Supplied
The buyer intends to bowl the house and build a single family home.
“They told me that a brand-new single home being built next door was a key factor,” Koerber says.
“There’s not much land to build in central Remuera, but if there were terrace houses next door, they wouldn’t have bought.”
A four-bedroom house on Melanesia Road, Kohimarama, sold at auction for $3.385m. Photo / Supplied
Koerber says that after a worryingly quiet first couple of weeks in January, buyer enquiry picked up at the end of the month and he expects the market this year to be “okay and steady.”
“Prices won’t go up or down, they won’t be taking a dive,” he says.
A four-bedroom modern house on 483sqm on Melanesia Road, Kohimarama, fetched $3.385m under the hammer, well over its $2.5m ratings valuation.
Ray White agent Lisa Stone, who marketed the property with Steve Stone over the summer holidays, says that buyer interest paused over Christmas but picked up the last two weeks of January.
“We sold all our pre-Christmas stock, but it was definitely quieter over the holidays. Mainly people who had been looking for a long time, or had already sold.
“There are more properties coming on the market this week, so this weekend will be interesting to see how many attend open homes,” Stone adds.
- Additional reporting Daria Kuprienko
