The $1,3m cottage
Buyers and sellers are reeling in Wellington after a little cottage in the inner-city Wellington suburb of Thorndon fetched nearly double its RV at auction.
The three-bedoom cottage in Lewisville Terrace, which has an rateable value of $750,000, sold for $1,352,000 – a price listing that agent Mike Robbers described as ‘‘monumental’’.
‘‘We had 10 registered bidders, and we had a battle, with a bidding war between two of them. Our sale price estimate was nowhere near that amount.’’
Robbers says the sale last Friday was especially interesting in light of the prices usually fetched for much larger houses in nearby Tinakori Rd. ‘‘These bigger houses often sell for around $1.1 million.’’
The agent was also surprised by the price another Thorndon cottage of just 51 square metres fetched two weeks ago. The onebedroom cottage, on a 92-squaremetre site, sold for $813,000.
The appeal of the Lewisville Terrace cottage was both its location, offering a view across to Wellington’s Botanic Gardens, and the fact the house had been renovated.
Robbers says the 120sqm cottage, on a 427sq m site, had been extensively renovated by the current owners, who put in a new kitchen, two new bathrooms, skylights and insulation.
A small flat attached to the house had been bringing in an extra $250 a week for the owners, while two spare bedrooms in the house had proved popular for Airbnb guests.
The property had off-street parking but no garage.