{"id":108606,"date":"2021-01-16T17:11:44","date_gmt":"2021-01-16T17:11:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=108606"},"modified":"2021-01-16T17:11:44","modified_gmt":"2021-01-16T17:11:44","slug":"hot-in-the-city-townhouse-next-to-auckland-motorway-nudges-1m-in-first-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/business\/hot-in-the-city-townhouse-next-to-auckland-motorway-nudges-1m-in-first-auction\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot in the city: Townhouse next to Auckland motorway nudges $1m in first auction"},"content":{"rendered":"
A new year hasn’t taken the heat out of Auckland’s property market, with a three-bedroom townhouse next to a busy motorway selling for almost $1 million in the first Saturday auction of 2021.<\/p>\n
The 76sq m, two-level, modernised townhouse is one of several in a School Rd, Kingsland, gated complex which include private outdoor space and a communal lawn area set under towering palms next to the Northwestern Motorway.<\/p>\n
It sold at its pre-auction offer of $970,000, with none of the more than two dozen, mostly young couples, at the auction making a higher bid. The home, originally built in the late 1980s as accommodation for immigrants from the Cook Islands, has a government valuation of $760,000.<\/p>\n
The buyers, Auckland couple Elaine Chen and Patrick Gibbs, did the right thing by moving fast, Ray White Kingsland business owner and salesman Tim Hawes told the Herald.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The townhouse was put on the market a week ago and had 200 potential buyers through last weekend.<\/p>\n
“They’ve moved quickly, they’ve obviously spent some time being frustrated in the market.”<\/p>\n
REINZ data showed Auckland median house prices hit $1m for the first time in October last year, with the Covid-19 pandemic and associated social and economic impacts having no effect on the rise of house prices in our largest city.<\/p>\n
Hawes expected high demand – which was mostly coming from wannabe owner occupiers – to continue.<\/p>\n
“There’s no drivers for change. We’re seeing a lot of people – we’ve seen that with our open home numbers – the interest rates are not going up anytime soon, we’ll eventually see more and more people coming back from overseas, so the pressures are going to continue.<\/p>\n
“We simply don’t have enough supply of the properties that people want.”<\/p>\n
Chen and Gibbs, who are aged in their 30s, own a central city apartment but wanted a home they could raise a future family in. They will keep their apartment and rent it out.<\/p>\n
They’d been trying to buy a new home since May last year and had many disappointments, Gibbs, an engineer, said.<\/p>\n
Two previous pre-auction offers had been beaten at auction, they’d been out-bid at other auctions and one sale had fallen through after problems were discovered with the plaster cladding.<\/p>\n
“We’re surprised, [given] all the other experiences we’ve had. There’s always someone else \u2026 it’s been the full rollercoaster.”<\/p>\n
The hardest part had been missing out when they’d made previous pre-auction offers, and allowed themselves to imagine their future in a home that once the auction began it soon became clear would not become theirs.<\/p>\n
“The first time you go to an auction it just takes your breath away. Everyone gets swept up in it.<\/p>\n
“[One we missed out on] went up $100,000 in about a minute, before we’d even caught our breath.”<\/p>\n
Afterwards, they’d have to go back to work and keep a brave face, Chen, an urban designer, said.<\/p>\n
“And all you’d want to do is go to the bathroom and cry.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Another couple in their 30s at the auction told the Herald they had also been trying to buy a home, their first, since last year.<\/p>\n
“With lockdown, it’s been erratic. We’re resuming the search in force now, but there’s not a lot in the market at this time of year,” the woman, who did not want to be named, said.<\/p>\n
“We’ve given up trying to time the market.”<\/p>\n
They had a top budget of $1m and were prepared to spend it “for the right place”, which she did not think the School Rd property was.<\/p>\n
“We’re trying to stay optimistic.”<\/p>\n
They’d watched as Gibbs and Chen embraced when the auctioneer declared the home theirs, she said.<\/p>\n
“It’s heartwarming that they’ve found their forever home. Hopefully that’s us soon too.”<\/p>\n