Bonanza for owners in new suburb

Homes in Stonefields make almost $500,000 profit when resold

Homeowners in Auckland’s Stonefields have pocketed an average $100,000 more per resale than surrounding suburbs over the past decade, highlighting how new-build homes can turn into goldmines.

Beside Maungarei/Mt Wellington volcanic cone and carved out of a former stone quarry, the Stonefields development is entirely new builds. And those who bought early have profited handsomely.

Homes in the East Auckland suburb have resold for an average $492,666 profit over the past decade, a OneRoof-Valocity analysis showed.

By comparison, homes in neighbouring Mt Wellington resold for an average $392,667 profit in the same period, Ellerslie profits were $363,912, Glen Innes profits $335,624 and St

Johns profits $308,960.

Pete Evans from Colliers International said Stonefields homes grew in value because they offered buyers low-maintenance homes with a modern design, that weren’t a hike to the city fringes.

“It was offering new community and streetscapes . . . and was generally up against much older houses, probably 50 to 60 years older.”

It highlights how buyers can be willing to pay top dollar for new-build homes.

And it’s a trend likely to continue since Auckland was not building homes fast enough to ease the city’s housing shortage, Evans said.

However, he also warned Stonefields was unique because it was set on one of the few large parcels of land that had become available in the Auckland isthmus recently and offered a range of dwellings, from apartments to five-bedroom homes.

That allowed its developer to largely set the prices it wanted for each release of new homes.

Initially, it released its first homes in 2007 at a cheaper rate to bring in buyers and get “enough sales momentum” to keep the project going, Evans said.

But as Stonefields became more desirable, the developer was able to charge a higher premium for homes and earn more profit from the development, Evans said.

New developments on the city fringes didn’t always have that luxury, however, as they were often in fierce competition with other developments to attract buyers.

New-build homes in large or infill developments closer to the city or more desirable suburbs may initially cost more but often had a greater chance of holding their value or rising, he said.

“Stonefields is a great case study for how a successfully masterplanned development was adopted by the market,” Valocity director of valuation James Wilson said. Overall, 4767 new homes and apartments were completed in Auckland in the past 12 months, according to OneRoof-Valocity and 201 were in Glen Innes, next to Stonefields.

That meant almost 10 per cent of all properties in the suburb were brand new homes or apartments last year.

Apartment-filled Auckland city had 793 new properties finished in the past 12 months, and 427 were completed in West Harbour in West Auckland and 364 in Takanini in South Auckland.

OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan said new homes used to have a poor reputation about 20 years ago because of the “leaky homes debacle”, poor building standards and unplanned subdivisions with poor amenities.

“The rising value of homes in suburbs such as Stonefields and Hobsonville Pt prove Kiwis want to live in well-built well planned new homes.”