Nine properties sold under the hammer in one night as nearly 90 developers jostled for South Auckland land at Ray White Manukau’s auction.
The night’s top sale was for a 1970s home on Scotts Road in Manurewa that sold for $1.65 million. Twenty six bidders pushed the price to almost $1m more than its council rating valuation of $660,000.
Ray White Manukau principal Tom Rawson said that auctions for three properties had been brought forward to last night, with only one property selling to an owner-occupier family - a four-year-old, four-bedroom townhouse on Fernly Rise, Flat Bush, that went for $1.11m.
“Only nine of the 89 registered bidders were home buyers, the rest were all developers,” Rawson told OneRoof.
Start your property search
A townhouse in Fernly Rise, Flat Bush, was the only sale to owner-occupiers, fetching $1.11m. Photo / Supplied
“And last night nearly six out of 10 bidders (57%) had not even seen the property in person.
“Nothing sold below $1m,” he said of the auctions which used a hybrid of Google Hangouts and agents helping bidders over the phone.
Rawson said the Scott Road property, on the market for the first time since the 80-year-old owner moved in with her family 48 years ago, was on a 900sqm corner site zoned for density, making it very attractive for developers.
Agent Pat Lapalapa, who marketed the property, said that since lockdown, buyer enquiries have doubled.
A development site on Wordsworth Road, Manurewa sold for $1.35m. Photo / Supplied
“Investors and buyers are sitting at home, so what else is there to do? I don't think we would have got to 26 registered bidders prior to lockdown.”
For another Manurewa development site on Carbery Place, six bidders pushed the price of a three-bedroom 1970s home to $1.108m - $538,000 above its rating valuation. A third Manurewa property, a three-bedroom 1970s on a 621sqm site on Wordsworth Road, sold for $1.35m.
Rawson said the Level 4 lockdown and subsequent ban on photography or in-person viewings were not holding back keen vendors from listing their properties, with some homeowners providing agents with DIY pictures or video walk-throughs.
“Buyers can go for a drive past on their way to the supermarket, see if they're happy with the street. They can’t do a building inspection or get a valuer through, but you can still get a LIM report. They’re prepared to take a calculated risk if their bank is happy to lend,” he said.
“We’ve got four more auctions on Friday, another 12 next week and 17 the week after.
A one-bedroom unit at Mountain Road, Mount Wellington, sold for $492,000. Photo / Supplied
“Everyone who is thinking about property is thinking about the backlog [when Level 3 starts].
“People who have sold just want to buy before their three-month settlement is up and people who’ve bought need to get selling.”
On Auckland’s North Shore, in Barfoot & Thompson auctions, a development site at College Road, Northcote - 774sqm zoned for apartments in the middle of the regenerating town centre - sold for $1.812m. It was $712,000 above its 2017 council valuation and $312,000 above its pre-auction offer.
This week’s bargain was a tidy one-bedroom unit in Mountain Road, Mount Wellington, that sold for $492,000.
