A waterfront apartment went from zero to hero yesterday, at an auction that saw several high-end Auckland properties fetch top prices.
The three-bedroom pad at 3/165 Tamaki Drive, in Kohimarama, had attracted a lot of interest during open homes but when the Bayleys auctioneer called for opening bids, the room fell silent, and the property passed in.
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The listing agent, Gary Wallace, said he was surprised by the lack of response because he had an interested buyer in the room.
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“I went up to him and asked, ‘What are you doing? Are you here to buy property and bid?’ He said ‘yes’, and we started the auction again with a bid of $3.5 million,” Wallace said.
The property finally sold under the hammer for $3.8 million – more than $1.2 million above its 2017 CV.
Wallace told OneRoof the result was amazing, adding it was the first time he had had to jump-start an auction. The buyer, he said, had been “dazzled by the headlights” when the property was first called.
Wallace had further reason to cheer yesterday: two other properties he was marketing with his wife Vicki and son Andrew fetched top dollar under the hammer.
A four-bedroom bungalow with subdivision potential at 41 Koraha Street, in Remuera, sold for $2.96 million - $60,000 above the reserve and almost $1 million above the 2017 CV – but the highlight was architectural gem at 85a Benson Road, also in Remuera and also outside of the prized double grammar zone.
Three bidders drove the price of the five-bedroom home to $4.305 million - $45,000 above the reserve and $83,000 above the CV.
“It was bought by a lovely couple who were focused on it from day one and went strong on the bidding,” Wallace said.
85a Benson Road, in Remuera, sold for $4.305 million. Photo / Supplied
Wallace’s listings were the only ones to achieve big numbers at Bayleys’ auctions yesterday. Three grand homes in Devonport, in Auckland’s North Shore, fetched a total of $11.4 million, while a lifestyle property in Cambridge sold for $3.4 million – more than double its 2019 rating valuation.
Asked by OneRoof if the Government’s recently announced housing market changes would have an impact on the top end of the market, Wallace said most of the buyers he dealt with were families looking for homes to live in rather for investment.
“From the feedback that I’m getting, people are incredibly frustrated but the sort of buyers we deal with just get on with it and take it with stride,” he said.
200 Victoria Avenue, in Remuera, Auckland, sold under the hammer for $5.4 million. Photo / Supplied
Across town, at Ray White’s auctions, the top end of the market was also humming. A pre-auction offer of $4.7 million for a grand four-bedroom home at 200 Victoria Avenue, in double grammar zone Remuera, was quickly eclipsed, with the home selling for $5.4 million –almost $1 million above the 2017 CV.
The listing agent, Ferne Butler, said: “In the space of 20 minutes, the vendors made another $700,000 on the pre-auction offer.”
Butler said three buyers competed for the property, with the one who made the pre-auction bid dropping out at $5.36 million. The house sold to a family with two pre-school children.
