- Do-ups in Point Chevalier are vanishing as new builds and luxury homes replace worker cottages.
- A house on Tui Street sold for $1.377m, attracting builders despite its state of disrepair.
- Another do-up on Lynch Street is for sale, highlighting the suburb’s desirable location and potential.
Do-ups in the popular Auckland suburb of Point Chevalier are disappearing fast, as new builds, luxury makeovers and trophy homes squeeze out the worker cottages that used to dominate.
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One of the few still left in the suburb sold under the hammer this week for $1.377 million, almost half a million dollars below RV, but it still attracted plenty of buyer attention.
The two-bedroom house on Tui Street was in a state of disrepair but had an unusual history, as it had been left to a stranger by the late owner.
Barfoot & Thompson listing agent Matt O’Rourke told OneRoof ahead of the auction that more builders than developers had shown interest in the 579sqm site.
The property was owned by a reclusive man who left it in his will to a stranger he once saw on TV. Photo / Supplied
Families had come to open homes but had said the property, which was built more than 70 years ago, needed too much work.
“I think those mum and dad type renovators don’t want to start from scratch, and with this, you’re basically pulling it back to the framework and starting again.”
Despite that, some builders thought the weatherboards were in “quite good nick, even though it doesn’t look like it because it’s probably still on the first paint job potentially”.
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While OneRoof was unaware of the new owners’ plans, O’Rourke said earlier that it was possible the property could be revived rather than demolished.
Point Chevalier remained a suburb people aspired to get into, he said. “Yes, there’s more development growing up, but that’s just part of a growing city. It’s still got a lot of great things going for it.”
He couldn’t put a figure on the number of do-ups still left in the suburb, but there weren’t many. “I had a few people through the open home who said they had just seen another one that was probably worse. I was like, ‘Really?’.”
The property attracted the attention of builders, but the size of the renovation needed put off some family buyers. Photo / Supplied
The sale, however, was an unusual one, with the seller inheriting it after the reclusive owner had seen her on TV in the 1990s, according to a report in Stuff.
A four-minute drive away is another do-up on the market, this one being marketed by Bayleys agents David Simons, Jennifer Munns and Jackson Tariau.
The 9A Lynch Street waterfront property with four bedrooms and two bathrooms was “super original but super cool”, Simons said.
“It’s been in the family since birth. It’s a little bit quirky around the edges, but that location is just off the charts, it’s so good.”
A Point Chevalier original at 9A Lynch Street is up for grabs. Photo / Supplied
The property is a little quirky inside, but the water views make it a standout in the market. Photo / Supplied
The family had not wanted to let the 1980s property go, such was their long involvement with it, but it no longer suited their needs.
The property, which has a $1.85m RV, was a do-up: “I mean, it hasn’t really been touched since it was first built. It’s just original. It still has a lot of those original features but the way we live now is quite different.”
Demolition was an option, but there was also the option of renovating or at least revamping, Simons said, and the location was “amazing”.
“The view is quite stunning. Over the water there you can get a peek of the Harbour Bridge, so you get all that inner West Harbour, and you look over at the dog park as well, which is across the way. There’s no pedestrian access unless you went through the property.”
The property was being marketed price by negotiation rather than an auction because buyers would need to do their due diligence, he said.
Also up for grabs in the suburb is a modern home at 10 Lister Street. Photo / Supplied
The house was designed by Box Living and has an RV of $5.35m. Photo / Supplied
A five-bedroom property nearby, also for sale by the agents, was a good example of what could be created, Simons said.
10 Lister Street has a $5.35m RV and the stunning home showed the potential was there to create something quite special, he said.
The Lister Street house was an architecturally-designed Box Living home and a breathtaking waterfront sanctuary with panoramic views.
Simons did not believe there were many do-ups left in Point Chevalier, saying a lot of properties in the suburb were subdivided in the 1980s and 1990s.
Over the last two or three years, developers had been active, keen on the suburb’s large sections, but Simons said some had built the wrong product by putting as many houses as possible on the site rather than allowing for outdoorsy areas, which families still wanted in the gentrified suburb.
Developers needed to be suburb-specific when deciding what to build, he said.
“Our suburb does command pretty good prices but if you’re going to build something here, build it for that market, and they would be prepared to pay a premium, but only for the right product.”
Simons said Pt Chevalier was often the end point for people’s property searches: “If you come back from your big OE, you want to be in Ponsonby because that’s where you pretend everything happens, and then you realise the sections aren’t big enough and the prices are a little bit too expensive.
“Then you go to Westmere and Grey Lynn and the same thing kind of happens, and then you come to Point Chev and you get a bigger house and a bigger section.”
The next step was Te Atatu, but that was the other side of the motorway: “This tends to be the end of the line where people will sacrifice other things they want from a house before they sacrifice that location.”
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