- A Christchurch couple sold their home for $2.31m after a 12-minute bidding war.
- They made a gross profit of $830,000, with $460,000 above the reserve.
- The auction attracted interest from New Zealand and Australia, with seven registered bidders.
A Christchurch couple pocketed an extra $460,000 after an “unbelievable” bidding war broke out for their home.
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The downsizers already had $1.85 million in the bank when they walked into Harcourts Gold’s auction room last month after accepting a pre-auction offer from a local family.
While they hoped to see a bit of extra competition when the auction started, they weren’t prepared for the 12-minute-long contest that played out between the seven registered bidders looking to secure their home – or the $2.31m sale price.
They had paid $1.48m for the six-bedroom plaster home on Carnaby Close, in St Albans, in 2021, meaning they were walking away with a gross profit of $830,000.
The home had been beautifully renovated. Photo / Supplied
It attracted people from around New Zealand and Australia who were looking for a large private family home. Photo / Supplied
Harcourts Gold listing agent Hayden Roulston told OneRoof the couple were “stoked” by the result, adding that the auction was nothing like he had seen before.
“It just went up and up and up. The vendors made $460,000 [above the reserve] in 12 minutes by doing no work.”
The family who made the pre-auction offer got the home in the end but they found themselves up against some tough competition and had to fight hard to secure it. Roulston said the rival bidders only started to drop out around the $2.2m mark.
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He noted that both the buyers and the under-bidder had missed on previous properties, adding that the former had been house-hunting for more than a year.
He said the home attracted interest from New Zealand and Australia. It struck a chord with buyers as soon as it hit the market, he said, with some 70 groups going through the property and about nine building inspections carried out over the two weeks it was on the market.
“It was a beautiful home – sitting on just over 1500sqm of land.”
It also came with a self-contained apartment, and the only thing it was crying out for was a pool, Roulston said. “If someone puts a pool in there, then you’ve got the absolute family home.”
Roulston said the only thing missing was a swimming pool in the large backyard. Photo / Supplied
Roulston said the auction was reminiscent of those held during the post-Covid “boom”.
“I’ve seen auctions in the last couple of years where there might be another couple of hundred thousand spent, but another $460,000 is unbelievable,” he said.
“It just points to the fact that auctions are the best way to sell your property because you never know – if you’ve got two that love it then you are in for a banger.”
He now wished he had a similar property to sell to the six buyers who missed out.
Harcourts Grenadier in Christchurch also noted an uptick in pre-auction offers in recent months.
Harcourts Grenadier auctioneer and city branch manager Ned Allison said while there had been a slight oversupply of Christchurch homes at the end of last year, there now seemed to be more buyers in the market.
“I’m not saying that prices will go crazy, but it’s an active market with a lot of sales.”
A lot of that demand seemed to be from outside Christchurch, with one agent commenting to him this week that out-of-town buyers accounted for 20% to 50% of their enquiries.
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