Real estate bonanza
A QUEENSTOWN apartment has sold for an eyewatering $1.399 million.
At 90sq m, that worked out to about $15,500 per square metre.
The price, which well exceeded expectations, was one of the highest ever paid for a Queenstown apartment of that size.
Bought by an undisclosed buyer at auction, the twobedroom Blue Peaks apartment with a capital valuation of $630,000 had been owned for the past two years by Auckland couple Kate and Richard Thode.
They decided to test the market after their neighbouring threebedroom apartment sold at auction for $1.275 million.
Mrs Thode — who is a prominent interior designer — said they completely renovated their unit.
‘‘I thought I overspecced it, initially, but obviously it paid dividends in the end.’’
Harcourts Queenstown managing director Kelvin Collins thought the price paid resulted from a lack of property in that sector of the market.
He believed the sale would help stimulate developers into building intown apartments.
‘‘Up till now, prices haven’t been such that you could build an intown apartment and make a buck off it.’’
It was understood record sale prices had recently been recorded in two other Queenstown apartment blocks, Beechwood Apartments and Alpine Meadows.
Meanwhile, a rundown Frankton tennis court last month netted just over $1 million, and a humble old central Queenstown cottage sold at auction in July for $3 million.