Two bedrooms, not too modest
A two-bedroom house on a tiny corner site in Auckland sold at auction this week for $5.3 million — more than $2m above its CV and $600,000 above the reserve.
The designer house had received a pre-auction offer of $4.7m after only 10 days on the market, and was snapped up by a local couple on Thursday after fierce bidding from four other interested parties.
The listing agent, Bayleys’ Robyn Clark, said the house was in a league of its own.
It was custom-designed for the owners by award-winning architect Jack McKinney and Ponsonby developer Cameron Ireland.
Clark said: “This was a very specific house, as it had only two bedrooms, but was very cool and beautifully done. It is for people who want the apartment alternative, close to Ponsonby Rd.”
The vendors bought the property on Norfolk St in 2015 for $1.4m intending to upgrade it. The original 56sq m Victorian cottage that sat on the front corner was turned into a master bedroom with walk-in wardrobe and luxury en suite.
McKinney and Ireland added nearly 300sq m of living space and – crucially – a three-car garage.
The house has two large living rooms wrapped around a courtyard, and a kitchen with additional laundry and scullery.
The $5.3m price tag is more than double Ponsonby’s median property value, and more than four times the median sale price of two-bedroom homes in the suburb. Buyers with budgets of $3m-$5m can typically buy homes in the suburb with more bedrooms and more land.
A stylishly renovated fourbedroom home on a 424sq m site on nearby John St this year sold for $3.905m, and another top-to-toe renovated four-bedroom villa on neighbouring Prosford St sold for $4.788m in May.
James Wilson, head of valuations at OneRoof’s data partner Valocity, said: “In Auckland’s inner-city suburbs, scarcity of quality stock is pushing up prices. Buyers are increasingly ignoring the factors that usually determine price, like land area and the number of bedrooms. They just want to be in these suburbs, close to the city. Money isn’t an issue.
“You see those dynamics at play in London and Hong Kong.”
Ponsonby houses renovated by Ireland are in hot demand. The developer has renovated at least 30 villas in the area.
He had originally bought the Norfolk Street property in 2012 intending to create a two-storey, fourbedroom house with a pool, but sold it in 2015.
The owners then asked Ireland and McKinney to build a single-level home with just two large bedrooms and an internal garage – rare for the area.
“They wanted to have a lot of volume in the house, and a really big garage. Everything was high spec and had architectural flair,” Ireland told OneRoof.
“We are seeing big demand for these [types of houses] from buyers whose kids have left home. They’re downsizing and only want two bedrooms, but don’t want an apartment. They want style, garaging, big spaces and a massive master bedroom.”
Ireland has just sold a similarly revamped two-bedroom villa in nearby St Marys Bay for $5.5m in an off-market deal.
“We put in a massive bedroom, probably 140sq m in size, and dug out a garage. The staircase alone cost $150,000.”