A large Auckland villa that had seen better days sold at auction this week for $6.45 million – a staggering $2.5 million above its 2017 CV.

The eight-bedroom 1910s villa at 1 Lauchlan Avenue, in Epsom, sits on a 2023sqm site that’s zoned for mixed housing urban, and was snapped up by a developer who has plans to remove the house.

READ MORE: Find out if your suburb is rising or falling

At the Bayleys auction on Thursday, bidding started at $5 million climbed steadily thereafter as four buyers – all developers - competed to secure the property.

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Bayleys' regional general manager for Eastern Bays, Rachel Dovey, told OneRoof that the new owner planned to build quality terrace housing on the site.

The property, which was marketed for sale by Bayleys agent Wei Wei Elder and Barfoot and Thompson agent George Fong, sits just outside the lucrative double grammar zone, in a sign of just how heated the development market is in Auckland.

Last month, a tired brick and tile Epsom house, which sits on 1373sqm of flat land in in double grammar zone, sold to a developer for $7.06 million - $2.36 million above its 2017 rating valuation.

And in nearby Royal Oak, two neighbouring brick and tile homes zoned for terrace housing and apartments sold for $5.55 million just a few weeks later.

The properties at 23 and 23a Turama Road, which sit on a combined 1367sqm site, were bought by a developer who plans to demolish them.

The listing agent, Wendy Sadd, told OneRoof at the time: “It was a massive sale that left everyone gasping in the auction room.”