As prices in one of Auckland’s former working-class suburbs creep up, competition has intensified for properties once thought as affordable.
This week 22 buyers registered to bid at the auction of a four-bedroom villa at 10 Grey Street, in Onehunga.
READ MORE: Find out if your suburb is rising or falling
The renovated property, on the market for only the second time ever in its 111-year history, sold under the hammer for $2.85 million – well above its 2017 rating valuation of $1.675 million, and just above the 12-month sale price record for the suburb.
Start your property search
Ray White agent Martin Honey, who marketed the property with colleague Ben Bibby, said that there had been 131 inspections of the property during the campaign.
“People from Ponsonby, Remuera and Mount Eden came looking. Onehunga attracts a wide range of homeowners, and this property had high quality finishes.”
He said that buyer feedback was in the $2.3 million to $2.6 million range, but “the competition in the room got it over that”.
Ray White chief auctioneer John Bowring, who called the auction, said the buyer was from Remuera. “He told me he couldn’t get what he wanted for that money there.”
Honey added that sales activity in Onehunga had been “crazy”, and unaffected by the changes to tax regulations for landlords because most of the market was owner-occupiers rather than investors.
The smartly renovated villa at 10 Grey Street attracted buyers from Remuera, Ponsonby and beyond. Photo / Supplied
10 Grey Street was not the only mid-range property to feel the heat at the Ray White auction.
Ray White agent Rohan Thompson, who also operates in the area, told OneRoof: “We’re finding the first home buyers are spending $1.3 million up to $1.5 million in the area. If the parents are helping, it goes to $1.8 million.
“They’re still first home buyers, but affluent, and with 30-year mortgages and low interest, they can afford it. For lower prices, you’re looking at a duplex or a small two-bed, everything on 500-600sqm is $1.5 million.”
A renovated bungalow at 206 Arthur Street, Onehunga sold for $1.7 million. Photo / Supplied
One of Thompson’s listings, a renovated four-bedroom character bungalow at 206 Arthur Street, had been seen by 58 groups and was fought over by six bidders.
The property, which has a CV of $1.05 million and last changed hands four years ago for $1.21 million, sold for $1.7 million to a couple who were upgrading to their second home.
“Young people want the cuteness. If they buy something at $1 million, they can’t borrow the $300,000 to renovate, but they can borrow $1.4 million for something that is done.”
53C Alfred Street, in Onehunga, sold for $1.3 million. Photo / Supplied
Last week an attractive 1920s house at 4B Peet Avenue, in Onehunga, sold for $1.882 million after getting a pre-auction offer while this week near new townhouse at 53C Alfred Street went for $1.3 million. Its neighbour, a smartly renovated two-bed 1940s weatherboard house, had sold for $936,000 in November last year.
Thompson said that when homes in the affordable price bracket hit the market in Onehunga, interest was huge.
A smartly updated two bed brick and tile unit in a block of six at 5/104A Victoria Street has already had 70 groups through after only two weeks on the market, with feedback already at $700,000. It has a CV of just $560,000 and last sold just over seven years ago for $445,000.
An entry-level property at 29/99 Mays Road asking $649,000 is under offer in less than a week. Photo / Supplied
And a two-bedroom townhouse at 29/99 Mays Road, which has an asking price of $649,000, was already under offer after just one week on the market. “At the $600,000 to $650,000 market, this is what you can get,” Thompson said.
At the other end of the scale, Harcourts agents Aman Guilia and David Findlay are marketing a luxuriously renovated 1860s villa with a pool on over 3000sqm of land at 7 Symonds Street. With a CV o $4,59 million and on the market for the first time in 18 years, it is a rare find and likely to get the suburb's top price.
Gulia said: “This house will not only suit discerning families but the development opportunity is huge given it’s sitting on 3,176 sqm of land in mixed housing suburban zone.”
7 Symonds Street , in Onehunga, is at the luxury end of the suburb's housing market. Photo / Supplied
