Christchurch homes sell for more than $2 million

Prices ranged from $212,000 to $2.32 million at last week's Harcourts auctions

Property

Prices ranged from $212,000 to $2.32 million at last week's Harcourts auctions

8th Apr 15, 10:50am by Greg Ninness

This house at Strowan in Christchurch sold for $2.32 million.

Correction: An earlier version of this story said a cottage at Kaikohe was sold for $17,500. That was incorrect. The house was passed in for sale by negotiation, with a highest bid of $17,500.

The prices of homes sold at auction by Harcourts last week ranged from $212,000 to $2.32 million.

Harcourts has released the results of 104 auctions it held throughout the country last week, and the cheapest property was a home unit at Phillipstown in Christchurch which sold for $212,000 while the highest price achieved was for a stunningly modern home (pictured at right) at Strowan, also in in Christchurch, which had features such as an indoor lap pool and spa.

However it wasn't the only Christchurch home that Harcourts auctioned for more than $2 million last week, and an auction in Auckland achieved $2.608 million, but that was for two adjacent homes at Castor Bay on the North Shore which were sold as a single lot.

You can view the results of properties auctioned by Harcourts last week in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay, Wellington and Christchurch by clicking on the links below for the areas you are interested in:

To see Harcourts auction results for Auckland and Northland click on this link.

To see Harcourts auction results for Waikato and the Bay of Plenty click on this link.

To see Harcourts auction results for Wellington and Hawkes Bay click on this link.

To see Harcourts auction results for Christchurch click on this link.

This tenanted investment property (below) at Silverdale in Hamilton sold for $390,000.

This bungalow ( pictured below) at Petone in Lower Hutt sold for $550,000.

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11 Comments

by skudiv | 8th Apr 15, 11:28am 1428449320

Pretty tough break, selling at a mortgagee auction for 17.5k, makes you wonder why they couldn't afford the mortgage. It probably needs some major repairs but surely the section itself would be worth more then that.

by Problem Solver | 8th Apr 15, 11:54am 1428450877

Because Kaikohe is a Maori town. That NZ arrived at economic apartheid is shameful for all those that created it, but this valuation is a symptom.

by cowboy | 8th Apr 15, 11:59am 1428451152

They are probably low income, in an area with low employment and lower wages.

The property probably had structural issues; that foundation marking doesn't look good, and the raking roof profile suggests insulation standards throughout are poor. Might even be effluent handling issues if it's coastal/not connected to town sewers

I'm _guessing_ that they got served with a Notice to Fix, and couldn't do repairs/updates and mortgage. Which means any purchasers would have to plow a lot more money into the property immediately, effectively raising the real purchase cost.

by skudiv | 8th Apr 15, 12:28pm 1428452933

Could be a notice to fix, though it's in the middle of Kaikohe, neighbouring properties have been selling for over 100k, who knows.

by Chris_J | 8th Apr 15, 12:37pm 1428453450

Foundation is fibre cement sheeting over timber piles from the look of the photos. Probably not much wrong with it, but maybe it has consent issues? As it looks to be built in the 80s or so.

RV is $111k with a LV of $48k.

Next cheapest house in town is asking $109k with a GV of $119k.

If that sale was free of any legal issues, then it was surely a bargain.

by Chris_J | 8th Apr 15, 12:25pm 1428452700

Freehold 720m2, looks ok from outside, no internal photos though. At that price, affordable for those that don't even work.

http://harcourts.co.nz/Property/718505/KKE2558/2-Te-Ra-Place

by Chris_J | 8th Apr 15, 11:52pm 1428493950

The $17,500 Kaikohe house was passed in, not sold according to the Harcourts page. Hence they probably want something substantially more.

In other parts of the country you can buy freehold houses at those kinds of levels if you look really hard, but they will be fixer uppers in remote or undesirable locations. Hard to get something habitable even in Bluff or Nightcaps at that level nowadays.

by skudiv | 9th Apr 15, 7:20am 1428520809

Thanks for the update, glad to know the bank wasnt acting totally criminally.

by TuaWai Smith | 9th Apr 15, 1:37am 1428500220

The Christchurch house looks like it was built out of containers. I'm sure it has some nice features but there is not an ounce of imagination in it. It's just a box. Thankfully it takes all sorts to make the world go round and never assume someones piece of crap is not someone elses treasure!

by frazz | 9th Apr 15, 9:08am 1428527297

Looks ok to me, lots of outdoor flow for those hot Nwesters..and really do people need more than a box to live in?

by Chris_J | 9th Apr 15, 11:51am 1428537064

For people who don't know Chch, that sale in Hawthorne St for a new home on 830m2 is a bit of a record. Although it is a substantial house, in that part of Strowan getting much over low millions for a standard size section is very unusual.

In 1998 we put an offer on the old bungalow diagonally opposite which was on 950m2, we didn't end up buying it but the asking price I recall was $190,000 (although I think that was later reduced to $179,000).

More recently in 2012 a bungalow around the corner on equally desirable Watford St on just under a quarter acre and fully insured (but not repaired with EQC to pass over) sold for about $550k. It had considerable EQC work to do and was pulled down, which probably meant that depending on what insurance settlement was made, the net land cost was probably $300-400k.