PONSONBY ON THE CHEAP: THE AD SAID IGNORE THE $2.35M CV, THEY BROUGHT IT FOR $1M LESS.
A cottage in one Auckland's most expensive suburbs sold at auction yesterday for a super-low $1.29 million - more than $1m below its 2021 CV.
Bayleys agent Luke McCaw, who marketed the two-bedroom home on Mira Street, in Ponsonby, said he had deliberately made the point to buyers that they should ignore the $2.35m council valuation.
The strategy worked, with the agent attracting 12 groups through the open homes and two bidders competing against each other at the auction.
“The CV was extraordinarily high. When buyers see those figures they make certain assumptions,” McCaw said, adding that the size and condition of the house, which has no off-street parking and sits on just a 281 sqm site, obviously had a smaller market than what a three- or four-bedroom home in the suburb would.
The house, which McCaw described as a transitional bungalow, still had some original features, an updated kitchen in the lean-to and a studio in the yard. The buyers were a family helping their kids into the popular suburb with a do-up project. He said the location, on a rise between Vermont and Lincoln Streets was an attraction.
“The appeal for houses that require spending is less, but there were no developers or builders.”
A standalone house in Ponsonby is a rare find in Auckland’s inner-city, where the average property value, according to the latest OneRoof figures, is $2.375m - down 11.9% year-on-year but still 31.7% up on five years ago.
McCaw said that demand in the suburb continues to be stable across all price points, although vendors were still taking longer to see where prices were.
“It seems like there’s a good balance of demand and supply. People have more confidence in the 12 months ahead, they seem to see things a little clearer.”
Other properties around the suburb have also been selling for well below CV, including a four-bedroom home dubbed as “a project” in Beaconsfield Street, in Grey Lynn, which was pitched as a "must-sell" and sold for $1.65m after auction. In nearby Mount Albert a three-bedroom family home sold for $700,000 below its $2.2m CV.
In both cases, agents for the sale could not comment, but said that the 2021 council numbers are “ridiculous” for some properties at the moment.
Further out of the city in other auctions this week, buyers are finding good value.
A brand-new five-bedroom home on Hellyers Street, Birkdale, on the North Shore fetched $1.36m after negotiations. Harcourts Cooper & Co agents Josh Smith and Alex Strever said the house was a unique find in the area, where new-builds are more often seen in large-scale terrace and townhouse developments, so attracted a lot of enquiry.
“Beach Haven and Birkdale are gentrifying, we’re seeing a lot of improvements and attracting a lot of professional couples. This price is great value compared to other parts of the city,” said Strever.
And in Rodney, a three-bedroom Spanish-style house on William Hadlow Place, Hatfields Beach, just north of Orewa, sold for $1.047m, slightly over its $965,000 CV.
Harcourts agent Karl Martinovich, who marketed the smartly presented 1970s house with Sarah Bentley, said it was the unusual style that helped attract 62 groups through the open homes and the four bidders who registered for the auction. He said buyers were heading north from the city and North Shore looking for better value.
