Smaller crowds and mixed results at Auckland apartment auctions

It was a mixed bag at this week's main Auckland apartment auctions, with noticeably smaller crowds attending, more apartments being passed in but others continuing to attract very competitive bidding.

At the City Sales auction just three properties were on offer and although there was only a small crowd of potential buyers there were serious investors among them.

Although two of the units attracted bids they failed to meet their reserves and the bidders seemed happy to try their chances at post-auction negotiations.

The third property attracted no bids apart from a vendor bid made by the auctioneer and at the end of the auction all three units had been passed in.

At Ray White City Apartments auction the following day eight apartments were offered with six selling under the hammer and two being passed in.

The first apartment to be auctioned already had an offer on it for $300,000, which had been accepted unless a better offer was made at auction. But there were no bids from the floor and it sold at its early offer price.

Larger apartments suitable for owner-occupiers continue to be keenly sought after and there was very competitive bidding for one such unit in the Marina Park complex on Fanshawe St that sold for $540,000.

And although many investors have been taking a more cautious stance over the last few weeks there are still those around who are prepared to take a punt.

One of the apartments offered by Ray White this week was in the City Gardens building on Albert St. The building has significant weathertightness and other building defect issues and the remediation work is estimated to cost $22.5 million to repair.

That is the subject of legal proceedings so at this stage it is not known how much of the costs will need to be met by the owners of apartments in the building.

So anyone buying into the building at this stage is taking a punt on how much the repair work will actually cost, how much of that will have to be paid by the owners and what the value of the apartments in the building will be once repairs are completed.

However there were investors prepared to take those risks and bidding on the apartment was competitive and it sold under the hammer for $120,500.

The full results of both auctions are below:

Auctioned by City Sales:

• 310/207 Federal St. Federal City building. A 61 square metre, two bedroom furnished unit, rented at $500 a week. The opening bid was $400,000 and when there were no further bids it was passed in. The agent was Lucy Piatov.
• 511/152 Hobson St. Fiore building. A 43 square metre, one bedroom unit with balcony. Vacant. There were multiple bids on the property but it was passed in with a highest bid of $280,000. The agent was Tony Kelly.
• 805/1 Parliament St. The Statesman building. A 41 square metre, one bedroom unit, with a large balcony and car park with storage locker. Rented at $460 a week. When there was no opening bid for the property the auctioneer made a vendor bid of $400,000 and when there were no further bids it was passed in. The agent was Georgia Featherstone.

Auctioned by Ray White City Apartments:

• 1910/10 Waterloo Quadrant. The Quadrant building. A 32 square metre, one bedroom furnished unit. Vacant. At the start of the auction the auctioneer announced that the property already had an existing offer of $300,000 which was the declared reserve, and when no bids were received it was sold at that price. The agent was Aileen Wu.
• 11B/4 St Paul St. St Pauls Apartments. A 34 square metre, one bedroom unit in a leaky building undergoing remediation. Vacant. Sold for $177,500. The agent was Dominic Worthington.
• B26/3 Harrison Rd, Mt Wellington. Ellerslie Court complex. A 45 square metre, one bedroom unit with a tandem car park. Rented at $340 a week. Sold for $314,000. The agent was Dusan Valenta.
• 204/135 Vincent St. Dynasty Gardens building. A 46 square metre, two bedroom furnished unit with balcony. Vacant. Passed in with a highest bid of $300,000. The agent was Dominic Worthington.
• 12E/2 White St. Bianco building. A 39 square metre, one bedroom furnished unit. Passed in with a highest bid of $290,000. The agents were Donald Gibbs and Liam Kyle.
• 915/430 Queen St. Volt building. A 43 square metre, two bedroom furnished unit. Vacant. Sold for $339,000. The agent was Dominic Worthington.
• 18i/76 Albert St. City Gardens building. A 42 square metre, one bedroom furnished unit in a building with weathertightness issues. Rented at $350 a week. Sold for $120,500. The agent was Victor Liu.
• 39/146 Fanshawe St. Marina Park complex. A 65 square metre, two bedroom unit with a car park. Vacant. Sold for $540,000. The agent was Krister Samuel.