- Eight bidders fought over a burnt-out South Auckland house before it sold for $920,000.
- The buyer plans to restore the five-bedroom house, once shortlisted for House of the Year.
- An unattended barbecue caused the fire, leaving the sale well below its $1.6m RV.
Buyers were all over a House of the Year contender in South Auckland last month – even after an accidental blaze reduced it to a burnt-out shell.
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Harcourts listing agent Gabriel Elkhishin told OneRoof that interest in the five-bedroom home on Capriole Crescent, in Kingseat, was huge.
Eight registered bidders turned up at auction and fought over 12 minutes and 23 bids to own the fire-damaged property, with the hammer coming down at $920,000.
“It went crazy for a burnt-down property,” Elkhishin told OneRoof.
The five-bedroom home was damaged in a barbecue fire. The new owner, however, plans to bring it back to life. Photo / Supplied
What the interiors looked like before the blaze. Photo / Supplied
While most of the bidders were interested in the 2521sqm section, the buyer wanted to restore the house and make it their home.
The underbidder, who lives nearby, also wanted to renovate the house, although they planned to keep it as a rental. “They love the area,” Elkhishin said.
The sale price was well below the property’s RV of $1.6m and the $1.8m valuation the owner got before the blaze.
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Architectural designer Mark Ravening designed and built the house, which was shortlisted for the Registered Master Builders House of the Year competition in 2022.
However, the property caught fire after the owner’s flatmate left a lit barbecue unattended.
Elkhishin said his client decided against rebuilding the property after getting a payout from his insurer. “He said to me, ‘That’s the last thing I want to do because this was my baby, this was my custom house, I don’t want to go through it again’.”
In the listing, Elkhishin and his co-listing agent Michael de Villiers said the property offered a rare opportunity for buyers with vision, ambition, and an eye for potential: “This was a beautiful home, and for the right buyer, there is every opportunity to bring it back to life.”
Harcourts listing agent Gabriel Elkhishin has another fire-damaged property for sale at 44 Clayton Avenue, in Otara. Photo / Supplied
The house was gutted in the blaze and is being sold “as is, where is”. Photo / Supplied
Every year, a steady stream of fire-damaged homes are sold in New Zealand. Elkhishin has another such property for sale at 44 Clayton Avenue, Otara, which goes to auction on August 25.
The three-bedroom home, which sits on a 738sqm site zoned for development, last sold in June 2024 for $501,000 and is being sold “as is, where is”.
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