PM’s house sells in off-market deal
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her partner, Clarke Gayford, have sold their house in Pt Chevalier, Auckland.
They moved to a bigger home in Sandringham in early March.
The couple is preparing for the arrival of their first child in June.
Their brick-and-tile Pt Chevalier home was sold by Pt Chevalier Professionals, and agency salesman Lawrence von Sturmer said the deal was done on March 10.
The ‘‘sold’’ sign went out this week, which usually indicates that all the conditions on the sale have been met.
Von Sturmer said the house’s $1.12 million capital valuation should not be used as a guide to the price at which it sold. ‘‘CVs are all over the show.’’
He said the property was never listed on the open market. Instead, the agency had looked into its database of buyers and found people who would be suitable.
Although that meant there was no open competition for the property, the agency was confident it had achieved the best price.
The agency had set the suburb’s record sale price of $5.4m with another house that was also not listed on the open market.
‘‘We treated their home as if it was any other house. Pt Chev is always popular. There’s a microclimate here; it’s a nice neighbourhood. Hardly any developers or property investors buy in the area. It’s mostly families and young people who want to be close to the city,’’ von Sturmer said.
A family bought Ardern’s property, he said, and both she and Gayford were ‘‘really nice’’ to deal with. ‘‘We’re sad to see them move out of Pt Chev.’’
Jeremy O’Hanlon, of real estate data provider Homes.co.nz, said the sale price would depend on how well the house was presented.
‘‘Houses can sell in this area [for] 10 per cent to 20 per cent above their new CV … I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case.’’