Could a change of prime minister and an All Blacks victory in the Rugby World Cup add some vim to the housing market in Auckland’s prestige suburbs?
Bayleys agent Gary Wallace believes so, although only semi-seriously.
“We have vendors with quality homes who are waiting until November 1 to go on the market. If we have a change of government and New Zealand wins the Rugby World Cup, then we’re on fire,” he told OneRoof.
“The higher end market are people who are professionals, they run the businesses that are the engine room of the economy.”
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Wallace said the top end of the market in his patch of Remuera and the Eastern Bays had strengthened in the second quarter of the year, with the bump continuing well into this month.
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“It’s quite interesting, compared to the first part of this year, we’ve been a lot busier and there’s been a real uptick in confidence,” he said.
“Since April, we’ve done just over $67 million in sales. Plus we have a couple of conditional contracts in Remuera and Mission Bay - one for over $10m, which will settle in August,” he said.
This week, Wallace with wife Vicki and son Andrew closed a deal for an immaculately refurbished five-bedroom home on Ridings Road, in Remuera. While he could not reveal the sale price, he did say it was comfortably over its CV of $6.2m.
“That’s a lot of house for the money, and it had undergone a $800,000 renovation. My vendors had commissioned architect Brent Hulena back around 2000 to design the house, but they left for London during construction and never came back,” he said.
“It’s been rented out all this time and now they are not coming back. Our buyers, who are also offshore, realised that you couldn’t buy that site or build that today for that money.”
A four-bedroom house on Coates Avenue, Orakei, sold for $5.1m. Photo / Supplied
A renovated bungalow on Mamie Street, Remuera, sold at auction for $3.6m after seven bidders competed. Photo / Supplied
The Wallaces' recent swag of top sales include an immaculately refreshed four-bedroom house on Patterson Avenue, in Mission Bay, which fetched $5.3m, well above the CV of $3.85m; and a near-new four-bedroom house on Coates Avenue, Orakei, which sold for $5.1m, a “very strong” price, again well above CV.
The Wallaces also completed confidential off-market sales for properties in Remuera and Parnell.
Ray White agent Richard Thode, who also operates in the city's double grammar school zone suburbs, said that he’s noticed renewed interest in properties that had been on the market since the summer, with a new tranche of buyers looking at places with likely price points of $6m to $8m in Remuera hotspots like Arney Crescent and Bassett Road.
Thode added that the sweet spot in his market right now is in the $3m to $5m price range, where there is a lot of demand but not much stock.
Bidders at the onsite auction of a renovated bungalow on Mamie Street, in Remuera. Photo / Supplied
The lucky sellers with listing agents Richard Thode, centre, and Andrew Milne. Photo / Supplied
A classic example of that was a renovated three-bedroom bungalow on Mamie Street, Remuera, that Thode and colleague Andrew Milne sold under the hammer earlier this month for $3.6m, comfortably above its $3.475m CV.
The property, which had standout views of Rangitoto, was one of the best houses on the street, Thode said, and with its appeal to Remuera downsizers had attracted over 75 groups through the open homes with seven registered bidders during auction.
“It had great views and was in a single house zone. So you could be assured that there was a low risk of losing that view, it was a classic Remuera house. We were expecting it would sell for well above CV,” he said.
“Buyers needed to be confident that they were not overpaying. There’s renewed interest now because they can only sit on their hands for so long,” he said.
“There’s starting to be signs of moving, but to get into the high $6m, a house needs to tick all the boxes.”
- Click here to see more houses for sale in Remuera
