- Alex Walls sold her Auckland home for $3.35 million after intense bidding at auction.
- The property drew over 400 groups, causing overcrowding and leading to cancelled open homes.
- The home, designed with Corban Walls, features custom elements and overlooks native bush.
Love It Or List It New Zealand host Alex Walls and her engineer husband Corban have sold their Auckland home at auction for $3.35 million.
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Bidding on the trophy home kicked off at $2m at Harcourts Cooper and Co's auction room today and hit a ceiling at $3.1m, when the auction paused for negotiations.
The property, on Island Bay Road, in Beach Haven, came back to the floor at $3.2m, and then sold eight bids and five minutes later for double its RV.
Harcourts listing agent Ben Gibson, who marketed the property with colleague Debs Wallace, hugged the buyer after the hammer came down.
The Walls started work on their Beach Haven wonder soon after winning The Block NZ. Photo / Supplied
Crowds line up to see the house built by the Love It Or List It star and her engineer husband. Photo / Supplied
Gibson said that the sale price broke the Beach Haven record and was a personal best for him. "It's what we wanted to do. Alex and Corban are stoked with the buyers. Now they can carry on with their plans."
Gibson said that three of the four bidders who registered for the auction put up their hands, including one phoning in from Dubai.
"We also had seven other people who were hoping they could buy the property if it passed in. The win was exactly what we wanted."
Harcourts chief auctioneer Shane Cortese said that the final price was exactly why auctions were the best sales method. "Auctioneer Andrew North was very patient; he didn't pressure people. And that patience got another $150,000 for the vendors."
Walls told OneRoof she and Corban were stoked with the result. "Ben and Debs were amazing. They worked tirelessly at the open homes. They are truly wonderful at their jobs."
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She added that the buyer "had got an absolute dream home and a life ahead of them".
OneRoof reported earlier this week that the listing agents had to cancel the third week of open homes due to overcrowding.
Gibson told OneRoof he was caught off guard by the more than 150 people who turned up to the first viewings. “By the second weekend, we must have had 180 people. My phone ran out of battery; there were so many people signing in,” he said.
"Some people were waiting half an hour. It was 10 people in, 10 people out at one point. We had to stop doing open homes after that. We could not get everyone through."
The three-bedroom home opens to a swimming pool and spa, overlooking native bush. Photo / Supplied
Corban crafted custom features like the floating stairs and the travertine stone vanities in the bathroom. Photo / Supplied
He added: "The roads were jammed with cars, and really good ones at that – it looked like a showroom.”
The Walls are familiar with that sort of chaos. They took part in - and eventually won - the third season of The Block NZ in 2014, and the open homes for the houses caused gridlock on Auckland’s motorways.
Gibson said that he and Wallace decided after the second weekend to show only qualified buyers through Walls's home. “We had 400 groups through the property. That is a lot of people trooping through your house,” he said.
Some viewers had told the agents that the house was famous, as it had appeared on Red Note, the Chinese-language version of Instagram.
The principal bedroom overlooks the bush and water. Photo / Supplied
Among the crowds lining up to see the three-bedroom home at 6 Island Bay Road, in Beach Haven, were architects, including one who brought a class of students, and engineers, keen to see some of the innovative methods Walls had used in the concrete, stone, and glass building.
“One of them said, 'We have never seen foundations like this in residential, this is like commercial grade.' I have seen such raw emotion from Corban; this is going to be such a reflection of him and his time and his skills. I am proud,” Gibson said.
The Walls started work on the home in 2015, just after they had finished The Block. They told OneRoof at the end of last month that it had taken them four stressful years to complete the build.
The house was designed with their friend, architect Fraser Horton, and detailed to the last centimetre by Corban and his building crew, Build Strong.
“Corban was adamant that he wanted to build a house that was beyond council minimum standards; a home that was entirely built for natural disasters like earthquakes, and self-sufficient as well,” Alex told OneRoof when the house first went on the market.
The upper floor of the house has two living spaces and opens to the swimming pool and play yard on one side and a dining deck on the other. Downstairs are three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a hidden laundry, plus a garage. A floating stair, designed by Corban, joins the two levels.
“Everything we have used is very organic, based on what is outside. It is like you are in another land. It is so calm. Every native bird possible makes its way through our property,” Alex said. Even their shower opens to the bush views.
The couple told OneRoof they were moving north to Orewa. It was a hard decision to make, though: “Our family lifestyle, if we could design it, would be outdoors to give our kids a traditional childhood, and a like-minded community,” Alex said.
“We are going to be building again, but it is an easier site, and I have already told Corban he is not allowed to do such custom stuff on this one.
“There are always new beginnings, but it is going to be very hard to say goodbye. It was a really hard call for us; it is such a perfect place for us as a family. It is like therapy being in that home.”
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