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Big jump in auction volumes in the lead up to Christmas, with sales on a third of them at Barfoot & Thompson

Property
Big jump in auction volumes in the lead up to Christmas, with sales on a third of them at Barfoot & Thompson

There has been a jump in auction activity as vendors look to get the sale of their properties wrapped up before the market virtually closes down for the Christmas break.

Last week Auckland's biggest real estate agency, Barfoot & Thompson, marketed 214 residential properties for auction, with a good spread of properties by both type and location.

However sales at auction remain lukewarm, and 68 of the properties (32%) had sold unconditionally by 5pm the day after the auction, with the rest mostly passed in for sale by negotiation, while a few had their auction dates postponed or were withdrawn from sale.

The on-site auctions were the star of the show last week with a sales clearance rate of 57%, followed by the Shortland Street auction on 16 November where most of the properties offered were in suburbs suich as Onehunga, Meadowbank, Ellerslie and Mt Roskill plus some CBD apartments, and the sales rate was 53%.

Things were a bit quieter at the big North Shore auctions where the sales clearance rate was 26%, and at the Manukau auction where the clearance rate was 21%.

The full results with the prices achieved on the properties that sold are available on our Residential Auction Results page.

Barfoot & Thompson also auctioned a handful of commercial properties last week and sold one of them, a retail premises in Onehunga. Its details and selling price are available on our Commercial Property Sales page.

Barfoot & Thompson Auction Results 13-19 November 2017
Date Location Sold* Not sold* Total % sold
13-19 November On site 12 9 21 57%
14 November Manukau 8 31 39 21%
14 November Shortland St, CBD. 4 13 17 24%
15 November Whangarei 1 1 2 50%
15 November Shortland St, CBD. 15 33 48 31%
15 November Pukekohe 4 8 12 33%
16 November Shortland St (residential) 8 7 15 53%
16 November North Shore 10 28 38 26%
17 November Shortland St, CBD. 6 16 22 27%
Total All locations 68 146 214 32%
*Sold means sold under the hammer by 5pm the following day. Unsold includes properties remaining unsold by 5pm the day after the auction plus those that were withdrawn from auction or the had their auction date postponed.

We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment.

Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.

93 Comments

It will be interesting to see how many of those sold over their new council ratable values (CV)?
I'd say there weren't that many.

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Agreed.

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That's why you need to push your CV as high as possible, then make make a more reasonable asking price of $100k below the CV LOL!!

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Zach, when you get time please let us know.

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Zach & DubleD need to open their eyes & take a look at their “global city”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=119…
This is frankly a dump on the waterfront
Keep bringing the laughs

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Global city = gateway city to an economic region, not the equal of ancient Rome, Babylon or Athens.

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And thank goodness for that. Honestly, living in Ancient Rome, Babylon or Athens would have sucked hard, compared to modern living standards!!!

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You are dreaming Zach
Auckland is at the unpopulated end of this world
Nobody cares up here
It’s just a nice place to say you’ve been on holiday
The place can’t even market its dairy properly still bulk selling
Has your daughter found a job yet ?
Keep working hard my friend

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Gateway
I think we’ve moved on from Babylon
Aucklands a simple port town at the end of the world

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A gateway to where exactly Zach? Which powerhouse economic region does NZ get you into? The allure of NZ is it's remoteness (the polar opposite of a gateway if you will), if you wanted to get into a gateway city this side of the world, your start would be Singapore - clue for you SEA is a wee bit bigger than a small island in the pacific, 1,500 miles away from anywhere.

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In your comment you practically allude to the fact that Auckland is a gateway to a remote region. Want to go to an alluring place? Auckland is the gateway to that place.
There is no escaping the reality that NZ is an economic region and Auckland is its gateway. It may be minor but its population is minor too. I predicted that Hobart would appreciate and I was right because I could see that in its own way Hobart was a gateway too.
Look for the gateways I say.
Ahh, this is a perennial subject on these forums. NZ is an absolutely marvelous place and Auckland a beautiful city.

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The most remote pole of all... NZ is the gateway to the South Pole. Yay for NZ, a large ecological & climate management crisis in the making at the doorstep with no way of policing illegal fishing...

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Auckland is at the smaller end of the mid sized city spectrum in international terms .
It's a nice city - with some big issues - but it's little blip on the international radar
Nowhere near 'global city' status

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My late father called Auckland a village
It was a very nice place to live but there’s a lot of nice places to live with a lower cost of living combined with higher remuneration packages

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If anyone familiar with Sydney. Once passed the 8 km circle from the CBD, Auckland is like Mt Druitt in Sydney!

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Sydney is a magnificent world class city
My favourite downunder by far
Mount Druitt is 43kms west of Sydney

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It certainly is a magnificent, 'world class' city. Amazing harbour, climate, shopping, culture.
Auckland is a nice, mid sized city, with a beautiful natural hinterland.
But it's far from a global city.

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Auckland is not as nice as Wellington ;-)

*runs and hides*

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I'm a Wellingtonian, but live in Auckland.
They are both nice, in different ways. Horrid climate though, down there.
But on the flip side, much more compact and easier to get around.

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Totally agree. I really like Wellington. Shame the weather sucks.

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I was born there and lived my first 21 years there. I'm still a Wellingtonian. I love the place. But the weather is crap (especially it's almost non existent summer), despite what Wellington apologists say :)

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Moved below.

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We're not all sun worshippers though!!! I'm a ginger from a colder climate and I think the climate in Wellington is AMAZING!!! hahaha
Wellington is my ideal climate, I love it. Never too hot, less chance of sunburn and always a nice breeze ;-) ;-)

Wellington had a horrible year last year apparently, rubbish wet and windy spring, rubbish summer, cold winter. And it was better than any weather i experienced in my homeland. So far this spring Welly had been amazing, so beautiful and sunny. I'm so smitten.

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Yes, on a nice day I reckon it’s the best city in nz. Chill by the harbour during the day, visit a gallery or museum, then walk to a bar at night. For me, it leaves Auckland for dead.

I can see why it gets the ginga’ vote, ha ha.

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I like both, or all towns in NZ. But its the weather up North and the beaches that keep me there. Ive lived in Dunedin, Hamilton and Wellington and liked them all. Been to CHCH a few times for rugby and skiing and love CHCH as well.

Not sure about Museum thing though once you have seen it, well you have seen it. But I do like going to the rugby games at the Cake Tin.

Wellington is like Hamilton and CHCH in terms of a small city, with all the bars in one area, great for going from bar to bar and getting food.

Auckland is a bit more of a mission, if you go from Viaduct, to Kingsland, to Newmarket, to Ponsonby and back to Viaduct. But hey thats part of the fun as well, costs a lot for taxis though.

I windsurfed in Kohi, played bowls in St Helier had a BBQ and then went into town all in one day. NZ just rocks, but property prices are obscene.

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Walked down to Kohi beach this morning for a coffee, then drove out to Henderson, which took 35 minutes, onto Browns Bay in 33 minutes and then down to East Tamaki in 35 minutes,and finally back home in 25 minutes. All were specialist suppliers/services I would have had to wait days to find/source in the Regions. Pre dinner walk around the neighbourhood. Spray roses after dinner. Wouldn’t swap it for any other place in the World.

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Oh god, groundhog day! Check the Wikipedia article on Global City.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_city

Auckland rated Beta + Global City.

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Oh, Come on!
The only reason Auckland is in there is because it is representative of one small economic region. It's one mid sized city representing a small economic region.
It's representative. It's like if the NZ All Whites could get qualification through to the world cup as a representative of Oceania, Wouldn't mean we are a global power.
What's the obsession about? Auckland is a nice city with a great natural environment, but it's a mid sized speck on the global scale. Why anguish about whether it is a 'global city'?

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Fritz, believe me there is no anguish. For me Global City status = hot property.
(I never said "global power")

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your obsession with property really is boring.
yawn

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This article is about property auctions. Why are you commenting here?
Why are you responding to my comments?

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Jesus wept, do you not get out much? You realise that wiki is self editing and this is probably the result of nimble keyboard fingers at Auckland Council, who seem to obsess about these things?

I’ve spent a large part of my working life in London, Hong Kong and Singapore. Trust me, Auckland is no “gateway” or “ global city”. I’d give it “bolthole” status.

I recently got back from Buenos Aires. Wow, now that’s a proper world class city.

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Exactly. It's frankly pathetic, and reeks of insular 'inferiority complex', this obsession with things like 'global city', 'world's most livable city' etc etc
I've lived in Nagoya, Singapore and Berlin. Like you - there's no way Auckland is anywhere near global city status.
But what does it matter? It's a nice city.

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I'm a patron of Wikipedia, giving them $25 a year. Everyone should do that. It's very last decade to disparage Wikipedia.
Here's a handy little map:

http://geocurrents.info/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Global-Cities-Map.jpg

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I would rather live in Auckland than Riyadh and a few other places on this list.

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For those nostalgic for west Sydney:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQJNSYOJMtY

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6 Halesowen, sold at Wednesdays shortland st auction.. sold for 1.18m, 200k less than 2017 CV of $1.38. House was original.. but still not a bad price for a 600m north facing flat full site

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A Deceased Estate in need of more than 200K facelift to become worthy of its CV ... the devil is in the details ... CVs do not account much for the state of the property !!
https://www.barfoot.co.nz/606833

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No they dont.. but my point was the land value of that place was easily 1.2m (going by what other equally run down places in the area have been selling for).

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Only in the case that the valuation differential exists in the improvement component of the CV.
Bear in mind that the majority of that value is coming from land valuation.

Also, such a predicament has important implications based on it's zoning, if we prescribe to the logic that RGM presented in an article a few weeks ago.

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New real estate marketing spin coming soon if not already. Bargain,Great Buy,Urgent Sale Etc $???,???K below CV.

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Onehunga, Meadowbank, Ellerslie and Mt Roskill....all areas where houses have lifted from relatively affordable to not that. Mainly due to speculation. I expect that a lot more in the outer central ring will be hitting the market.

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Not flash, but not a disaster either - however just shy of 70% "not sold" would probably sound a little more dramatic.

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Good explanation of the current quiet market - both in sales and in new listings;

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/property/98994461/lvr-restrictions-con…

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Not sure it explains Auckland though Kate.. listings are at the highest levels i have seen them for the last 2 years. After a brief lull around the election, people have been listing their properties at a pretty rapid rate to get them out pre Christmas. Feb/March should be equally busy, if not more so for new listings.

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Surely if AKL listings are up it is because homeowners think the market has peaked and are trying to cash up before a price slump. I imagine these will (in the main) be owner occupiers looking to downsize their mortgages.

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well, 7945 of the TradeMe listings for Auckland are for 3 + bedrooms. That seems very very high. Only 2072 listings are for 1-2 bedroom units.
I suspect you are right Kate that some are thinking they want to beat a slump - many may have been holding back, hoping for a rise, but can see the writing on the wall now. This could be problematic if there is such a mass realisation.
I also have a theory that we might be starting to see Baby Boomers looking to sell up en masse, and look for moves to the regions. And also older boomers starting to downsize, move into retirement homes etc.
No data to support that, just a hunch, and based on a few friends / acquaintances doing those things.

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My boomer uncle and aunt just sold up in Auckland. Taking that million dollars + and moving to Holland. Where they'll easily pocket $500,000 after buying an equivalent home there.

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Gooki
They are smart people
Life is short
The Netherlands is amazing

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Kate, I seriously doubt this increase reflects sales by owner occupiers. Unless your personal circumstances meant you were able to downsize you would be exchanging like for like and getting your ticket clipped for good measure. Doesn’t make sense. Surely it’s investors looking to exit.

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Kate
As always common sense logical factual informative
Now for comedy Zach has provided his special analysis at the end of the blog
Hollywood will be knocking
A star is born

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4 more weeks before it's a hard sell.

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The proverbial catch 22.

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I know Zachary has taken issue with this, but I will stick to my guns and again suggest that demand has, in a sense, become exhausted. And by demand I mean demand as follows:

"Economists define demand as the quantity of a good or service that buyers are willing and able to buy at all possible prices during a certain time period. Notice that there are two components to demand: willingness to purchase and ability to pay. I might be willing to buy a new Corvette, but if I do not have the ability to pay for it, it can't really be called demand. Likewise, if I had the ability to pay for a Corvette, but not the willingness to buy it, it can't be called demand. I'm simply not in the market for Corvettes."

For various reasons, the ability to meet current seller’s price expectations has become increasingly difficult – and willingness may have taken a bit of a hit as well, with the thought that prices and offerings may become more attractive in future months.
Should prices ease back moving forward, that may well increase the demand as defined above – and the market may return to some point of equilibrium.
Simply put, and in the context of these discussions, a lot of people simply wanting something is not demand.

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'Simply put, and in the context of these discussions, a lot of people simply wanting something is not demand.'

EXACTLY!!!!!

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I only took issue because several thousand properties changed hands in the month of October and several more thousand are likely to change hands in November so quite a few people did get want they wanted. I guess I didn't like the word exhausted maybe a little tired is better. However, vested interests and all that, keep the comments coming!

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Thanks Zachary – appreciate your comments and support – and yes, I really am a newbie.
I really don’t have any agenda, I simply enjoy economics and the behavioral science behind markets – and at the end of the day I simply believe that real estate is just another market, albeit quite a large and important one.
I might come across as negative – I’m not - so to those that wish a market crash, this is something you never want to see or participate in (unless you have access to a large sum of effective “cash” and are opportunistic). A residential property crash wrecks jobs, businesses and lives – period. So if you think you’re going to pick up the bargain of the century, you’re not – you’ve lost your job or business – but don’t worry, your previous competition that own various properties can’t do much about it either – they’re now sinking underwater fast and trying to save their skin – but the good news is the banks have other things on their mind rather than bothering them– like organising their own bailout.

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Dear Custard
A course in Socionomics you would enjoy
We even have conventions with speakers from around the world speaking
DVDs available of the key speakers after every conference
Check out Robert Prechter Jnr

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It is ironic. A lot of property investors may be custard>

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Custard just to be clear I was thinking of myself when I wrote 'vested interests'. I get a bit triggered if I see words like ponzi, crash, exhausted. It's interesting that some of the commenters are assuming you are on the Dark Side. These early stages of commenting are when the personality is formed, like lifeforms becoming male or female, depending on the reception you get you either go one way or the other. Many a commenter has written something they thought was informative and helpful or just an observation and have been immediately called an RE agent or a spruiker or an alias and from then on things are kind of set.

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Zachary? I can't tell if you are joking or not? I agree that online spaces have their own micro-culture etc, but "personality is formed"?
Just for the record, I don't feel commenting here has formed my personality at all...I have always thought that the property market in NZ looked dodgy, before i ever wrote a comment here. Admittedly, i'm here trying to understand the NZ property market and to be as informed as possible ahead of making big financial decisions myself, and I do have a certain bias because I am used to the ideas/beliefs/norms about markets overseas.

NZ is actually different, I got a hell of shock realising how loose lending was here (compared to where i lived previously), negative gearing, no capitals gains, loads of interest only mortgages, the incredible speed of price inflation etc. Tax payers are actually paying property investors mortgages via negative gearing tax rebates?! Blows my mind. But of course people are going to do it, if it's legal within the system. It's a very different climate to what I was used to and my initial reading of the situation was the Kiwi's were all mad and blowing the mother of all bubbles. I still think things look precarious BUT I don't necessarily think that means there will be an apocalypse.

I also don't hate landlords or blame property investors for the house prices becoming so unaffordable. Human nature is human nature and if people can make more money and legally reduce taxes they will. Successive governments have allowed the housing crisis to build, and that I do take issue with. That and the fact so many politicians also have skin in the game, which i think is corrupt. I also get the weltschmertz when people here are horrid about Millennials and say ridiculous things about if they worked harder, ate less avos etc etc. I worry about the NZ that my kids will inherit if wealth inequality widens further and the hope of owning a house becomes an impossible dream.

I thought most of that before ever commenting here. But otherwise, I just read all the links and articles people post, troll TPP a little bit, and voice my opinion without much concern for whether it will be popular or not.

Do you genuinely think everyone here is taking sides in some unholy, utterly partial and biased property market war? (seriously question, you've been on this site a lot longer than me)?

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Great comment, gingerninja!

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We're beginning to see a surge of 'buyers' making multiple offers at every open homes they'd been, knowing jolly well that their chance of securing that loan is next to zero - wasting everybody's time or using it as a tatic to renegotiate when it the contract fell through. Vendors should be realistic in the current market or hold on to their properties for a couple of more years to meet their expectations.

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They shouldn't muck around and should put in a low ball offer upfront.

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A friend of a friend has their 3 bed apartment up for sale in central Wellington. They've had over 100 people view and attend open homes. Not single offer!! Not one!!?? How crazy is that?

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gingerninja, do they have an asking price?

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Zach yup . Tell me what you think? Why no offer?

http://www.8-14collegestreet.com/

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The location is really good, the price almost seems too good to be true. Assuming that the apartment conversion had a building consent and received a CCC there don't seem to be many drawbacks. Assuming it doesn't require strengthening of course.

The main negative is the poor view with apartments opposite meaning that privacy isn't that great.

I'm actually not sure on this one.

e: I do see a cracked window from earthquake racking but that's not unusual. You just replace the glass as the only way to address it is to replace the windows so that they are less constrained (not worth it).

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Cute and funky looking place. I'm thinking that the market for apartments in NZ is still not that strong and people are wary. There is still that culture of having your own castle and working on it in the weekend. Kiwis, slack off at work during the week and work bloody hard in the weekend so dream of the quarter acre section. Possibly people are also afraid that it may be an earthquake risk.

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It looks like a mid to late 90s apartment conversion so the earthquake strength could be quite low compared with what people expect today. However it looks like it's survived the large quake fine. That end of the CBD tends to be built on rock too rather then the reclaimed land further to the north.

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Whoa, pokey kitchen, bedrooms and bathroom in a very dated style, (but not classic) and a massive empty space for the lounge & dining (which could have been used for better things). Did they have no more furniture or no quality, (should read iconic), furniture & art to rent to fit a stately penthouse? It seems limited, needs a lot of renovating, the area is unattractive, is an apartment with no land value and a body corporate ball and chain, and in Wellington, (where is the pool, gym and apartment garden/park in the video and walk through?). Very easy to see a few hangnails. But it is likely the owners already know those as detriments and would have a patter ready to combat what would be competition by similar 3 bedroom properties with land or similarly priced investment properties. But the viewing does tend to highlight that the floor is one of the main features... a good test to the realtors sale prowess.

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There are two different markets. There are some 3 bedroom apartments that are tiny with some 2 bedroom apartments having more living space. Then there's the much larger 3 bedrooms that are for very high prices.

There's also a few apartment buildings that have a bad reputation for noise, and those with body corporate accounts that are in really bad shape.

All those aside I think there is typically one bank that's keen on lending for apartments and even then they won't be willing to lend that much.

A lot of potential negative factors that may contribute to no offers. That's ignoring the potentially high rates bills and body corporate fees (some are very high, some are high due to inadequate provisions for maintenance).

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Imagine what the 2020 CVs will be in Auckland? 2 Million? If only...I should have.

Option two- complain and live in hope.

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Stick to the acting

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THE RESULTS ARE IN!
The first ZS "analysis" using the new 2017 RV is in.
I did the numbers on 38 properties sold by auction on 16-19 November.
A total of 45.975M in sales with an RV of 45.141M giving a % above RV result of 1.85% !!!

You have to hand it to the council, that's pretty darn accurate.

(Note: Auckland only and major leaky home omitted)

(Note 2: Most properties seemed pretty close, within 100K either side. The extremes were one property selling for 550K over RV and one selling for 215K below. If I took out those two extremes I would get an average of 1.23% above RV.)

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Well done Zach
Now has your daughter got a job yet in boomtown ?

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The General Valuer has to be accurate on every property when calculating and signing off CVs, more so than a registered valuer who could only refine the value slightly after internal inspection.

With new technology and information today valuers can see each property in real time to enhance the accuracy,

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Zach, are you now saying that the $2.225M CV you get for one of your properties is accurate?? LOL

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Could be, DGZ, could be.

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Pleasantly surprised? ..:)

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Have you checked the UP zoning? Is it zoned for Terrace Housing and Apartment Building?

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It is Terrace Housing and Apartment Building Zone.

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Oh well, that's your answer ^^

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Great job Zac,
this confirms that the new CVs are and will be the reference and the yardstick as I mentioned yesterday and they should be pretty spot on .... So , if the Auckland council thinks that property A is worth $1m today , as valued, then that means that the " Local Authority" does not see a crash or gross market devaluation happening any time soon !!
As I said before, council valuation have never gone backwards ( devalued) over the years ( at least the last 18 years including the GFC) ...
More proof will be in the sales numbers this summer ...
Behold - funny markets ahead !

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Not sure how accurate they are in my area, 1071. My CV is up 45%, almost totally due to my land being valued at close to $2,500 per m2. I think the likely market value is closer to 90% of the new CV. My neighbour’s CV has jumped 75%, to $2.6 million, likely because he can subdivide as of right. However, the house would have to be demolished to subdivide and it’s in excellent condition so that won’t happen. He’s been screwed as there’s no way his market value is close to the CV. More likely 75% of it.

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It looks like a lot of cross-leased properties on fairly large sections have been valued very highly. My particular property has a land value of 2M because if you were to sell both the properties on the cross-lease to one developer the land value would be close to 4M. They would then be able to build four 3M houses on it. I wonder if some cross-lease owners will get together and offer both at the same time.

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Never underestimate cross-leased properties.
Let's start the conversation now with the neighbours, let's do this ^^

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Yes, it could be worth it. It has been happening in Sydney where neighbours have got together and netted an extra 500K each.

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I recall reading of an apartment block being sold en masse to give a developable parcel of land. I think it was one of the beach suburbs.

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The Block houses in Takapuna were all sold and moved off to sell the land to a developer I think.

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Look at this listing - the asking price is the new CV! "Mate, you're dreaming..." LOL!!
https://www.trademe.co.nz/property/residential-property-for-sale/auctio…

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Well it looks like the old folks are trying to cash up, property listings are certainly up in Remuera.

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Auckland is not a patch on Sydney. Never has been and never will be.

Also its not hard to find purchases a year or so ago well above the newly issued CVs in Auckland. One of which being Shamubeel Eaqub's.

Falling market.

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