- Morvern Road in Auckland's double grammar zone is experiencing rapid home sales, with high demand.
- Bayleys agent Lorraine Young sold two homes on the Epsom street quickly, both off-market.
- Young advises potential sellers to list now, highlighting winter's advantage for showcasing home features.
Auckland's hottest street isn't Marine Parade, in Herne Bay, or Paritai Drive, in Orakei. It's Morvern Road, an unassuming collection of family homes in the city's double grammar zone.
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Earlier this month, Bayleys agent Lorraine Young sold a five-bedroom house on Morvern Road just 48 hours after taking on the listing.
And in April, she sold a renovated home on the same street in just three days. Neither property appeared on the open market.
Young told OneRoof that a lot of homes had hit the market in Auckland in February and March, but most were failing to hit the mark. "There is just a lack of well-finished homes,” she said.
"In the areas I’m selling in – Remuera, Epsom, Mount Eden – there is high demand for quality homes in that $3m to $6m range. Homes that are well presented are selling fast."
She added: “I’ve transacted $23m in sales in the last four weeks. One was a townhouse in the low $2ms, but the others were in the $3m to $7m range, and two were sold off-market."
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Young's Morvern Road sales were standouts. She declined to reveal the sale price for her most recent deal, but the house had a CV of $4.2m and sat on 922sqm section.
Her April Morvern Road deal saw the buyers pay $5.8m for a fully renovated five-bedroom home - well above the CV of $3.55m.
Young said she began showing buyers through the house before it hit the open market and had a winning offer in no time. Her buyers had been looking on and off for some months, and were inclined to move quickly.
A six-bedroom house at 2 Castle Drive, Epsom, is looking for well over its $5.6m CV. Photo / Supplied
"These are young families trading up," she said of both buyers. "They wanted to have something locked in before they went to the market [with their homes]."
Young said that some of her buyers had been looking for six to 12 months, so they knew the market well and had a strong idea of what they were looking for.
She is urging potential sellers to list their homes now, rather than wait out the winter. “Good prices can be had in winter. You can show off features like good heating, which can get overlooked in summer. If a buyer loves it in winter, they are going to love it even more in summer.”
Young and her colleague, Harry Cheng, are currently marketing another Epsom landmark, a six-bedroom concrete villa at 2 Castle Drive, Epsom. The 1900 villa, designed by architect William Elliot, has a combination of ornate Edwardian detailing with a modern kitchen, swimming pool, garaging, and a separate guest studio.
It was looking for “well north” of its CV of $5.6m, Young said.
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