Run-down home sells for $1.1m
Opinion divided on whether sale price is evidence of housing market holding firm
Arun-down 120-year-old house has sold for $1.14 million in Auckland despite warnings that house prices are about to plunge because of the Covid-19 recession.
The 124sq m bungalow at 10 Buchanan St, Kingsland, sold for just 7 per cent less than its 2017 rating valuation of $1.22m.
Ray White Kingsland salesman Tim Hawes, who sold the property after it had been owned by one family for 50 years, said interest from potential buyers was “almost unbelievable”.
“In the first 10 days of being listed, we had over 10,000 views online — that’s double the amount we’d usually see during a normal sales campaign,” he said. “This is the perfect example of how property prices are more than holding their own.”
However, property commentator Ashley Church said there were still not enough sales since property auctions began again last week to see any firm price trend.
“This is a rush of blood to the head on the part of the buyers,” he said. “I still think it’s an outlier, but time will tell.”
The Kingsland sale comes days after a three-bedroom house at 147A Arney Rd, Remuera, sold for $8m — $2.4m above its 2017 rating value.
In both cases, the purchasers were buying mainly the land. The improvement value of the Kingsland property was put at just $180,000 in 2017, while the land was valued at $1.04m.
Church said he expects house prices to be flat despite the recession — “anything between no drop and [minus] 5 per cent”.
He said the sharp spike in Covidinduced unemployment was being offset by record low interest rates, the removal of loan-to-value ratio restrictions and a continued shortage of supply.