‘Nice Kiwi family’ snare PM’s home
Estate agents avoid open market and select potential buyers on database as Ardern sells home in Pt Chevalier
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s former Point Chevalier home has been snapped up by a “nice Kiwi family” — without the need for a single advertisement.
A big “sold” sign sits outside the brick and tile home in Moa Rd, West Auckland, where Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford had lived.
The couple have moved into a new four-bedroom bungalow in Sandringham.
According to a neighbour the Pt Chev house had sat unoccupied for several weeks.
Professionals Real Estate salesperson Lawrence von Sturmer said the house was not advertised on the open market — rather potential buyers were taken through on private viewings.
“We have a couple of thousand people on our database, so we picked out the ones we thought were the best buyers for it.”
The buyers were a “nice Kiwi family”, von Sturmer said. “As much of Point Chev is. “We do a lot of business in the area, we know the buyers really well and we can quite easily match up buyers with houses without doing that full marketing if that’s what the owners are after.”
He said for Ardern and Clarke, this had definitely been the case.
Von Sturmer said he did not believe the fact that the Prime Minister had lived in the home would have added to the sale price, which he declined to divulge.
He would not say whether the house had sold for above its CV — which was $1,120,000.
“The CVs are a complete joke — I don’t even know what the CV is on that property,” von Sturmer said.
The property had sold on March 10, but the “sold” sign was only put up recently.
Nearby, a man staying at a home owned by his parents said he hadn’t noticed any potential buyers being taken through the home in recent weeks or months.
“They really seemed to keep it pretty low key — as you would,” he said.
He said there was typically a bit of security around while the Prime Minister had resided in the home, but otherwise things were fairly quiet.
“There was always a good amount of privacy because they kept to themselves. You would see them coming in and out sometimes but that’s it.”
The man, who didn’t want to be named, said his parents had got on well with Ardern, who he described as a “lovely lady”.
“I met her a couple of times out the front — she had a really warm heart.”
Ardern and Gayford bought a family home in Sandringham as they prepare for the arrival of their first child in June.
The larger property was valued at $1.7 million, according to online records.
The online listing, since removed, described the home as a bungalow haven. The 643sq m section features three double bedrooms, open-plan kitchen, study, dining and family room and a master bedroom with en suite.
The garden has a large deck with a subtropical garden, and even a treehouse, according to the listing. The home is located near Balmoral School ( primary and intermediate) and is zoned for Mount Albert and Auckland Girls Grammar schools.
Bayleys real estate agent Cheryl Crane declined to comment last month.