Spaceship takes off
A futuristic Dunedin house was the most popular real estate listing on Trade Me last year.
It seems we can’t get enough of the weird and wonderful.
The Futuro spaceship house for sale in Warrington, Dunedin, was the most viewed house for sale on Trade Me in 2017, with 63,389 hits.
It was so popular it sold to a buyer sight unseen. Juanita Clearwater said her family trust, which owned the Futuro, had accepted an offer from an anonymous Kiwi doctor.
And it wasn’t the highest offer, but it was the buyer who was most passionate about the home, which Clearwater says was ‘‘a defining factor’’.
It will be no surprise to learn that the four houses on The Block NZ: Side x Side were in the top six, with Ling and Zing’s house attracting the most views at 52,760.
But in fifth place, beating Stace and Yanita’s house from The Block NZ, was the tiny house on wheels in Hamilton, which had 43,600 views.
Another unusual property was next in line – the Lake Alice water tower in Rangitikei, which sold for approximately $120,000.
The tower, which once supplied water to Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital, took just 10 days to sell, and had 38,653 views.
The real estate agent for the property said he had noticed more people ‘‘looking for something a bit different’’ to buy.
People were looking to buy ‘‘outside of the box’’, rather than pay for an overpriced house or one that may come with other issues, he said.
The owners said they were thrilled with the price they got, but the new owner does need to do a conversion to make the property into a home.
A church was the next most popular property on Trade Me. The Ocean Beach Church at Bluff attracted 35,312 page views before the new year, and is still on the market. It might be the price that has created the interest – the church is listed for a mere $65,000 and has a rateable value of $52,000.
The owners say they bought the small church a few years ago intending to turn it into a bach that could be used as tourist accommodation. ‘‘However, we just didn’t get around to it.’’
And it’s probably no surprise to learn that houses from Grand Designs New Zealand were in ninth and 10th places.
The replica villa in Helensville had 32,733 views. And the relocated Queen Anne-style villathat popped up in the Gibbston Valley attracted 29,685 views.