Ngatea’s record-breaking house sells one year later for over $1m
A large home that broke a Waikato town’s record when it was picked up by a developer for $1.42 million has resold for $1.01m but with less than one-eighth of the land it originally came with.
There were four people fighting for the Stembridge Rd property, in Ngatea, at the Bayleys auction room on Thursday with the price exceeding the expectations of both the owner’s and the agent after selling for at least $55,000 over the reserve.
Bayleys salesman Dan Reed said the five-bedroom, four-bathroom home mainly attracted local buyers and some of the bidders even knew each other.
“A couple shook their hands as they walked in and said hello to each other and then it sort of dawned on them that they were going to be bidding against each other.”
Reed said there were mixed emotions in the room because someone had won it and someone else had missed out.
The new owners are local farmers
who bought it for their retirement.
The developer bought the property in September 2022 and has since subdivided the land leaving the large 15-year-old home on a 3162sq m block.
The remaining land has been chopped up into 10 sections ranging from 700sqm to 1000sq m in size which will form a new subdivision behind the property.
The house, which is the largest home in Ngatea zoned residential, has been empty for more than two years because it was also vacant prior to the developer taking it over.
Reed said the house would have fetched an even higher price, but the foundations had moved slightly in places meaning it would require some levelling in the future.
“It’s completely liveable obviously because someone just paid $1m for it,” he said.
“It would have gone for a bit more if it was completely perfect, but that was built into the price.”
Reed said lifestyle properties were always in demand, especially with city buyers as they look to escape the traffic and want their children to attend the popular Hauraki Plains College and Ngatea Primary School.
“I find every time you have a lifestyle property probably half your visitors through are from Auckland or Hamilton or other cities. We are seeing people coming back even from Tauranga now.”
While prices have gone up in the area, Reed said it was still far more affordable than other cities.
“You can cash up and come here and have no debt or money in the bank, so I think that’s quite attractive for people as well.”
The town is also growing and with several new subdivisions under way people can pick up a brand-new three to four-bedroom home on a decentsized section for between $800,000 and $1m.