Auctions in Christchurch are still going strong as the housing market continues to tremble.
Harcourts Gold managing director Chris Kennedy said his office sold 11 properties under the hammer out of 16 called last Thursday. The bidding was “fierce”.
“That is a good day. The doom and gloom that’s being portrayed across the media is not what we’re seeing in Christchurch – the country’s bigger than Auckland,” he said.
Bidders “scrapped it out” over a home on Mt Pleasant Rd (above). Set on 1436sq m and with garaging for five cars, the bidding opened at $750,000 with the property selling for $1.11 million.
The four-bedroom home with views of the sea and to the distant Kaikoura Ranges was marketed as “renovate, demolish or sub-divide”.
Another home that saw “phenomenal” action was on Hackthorne Rd in Cashmere.
Bids opened at $900,000, the property was called on the market at $1.551 million and sold for $1.575 million with two bidders in “an all-out scrap.”
The five-bedroom, two-bathroom renovated home is on 934sq m and in a “magical hill setting”.
Other homes sold included Leacroft St, a fully-fenced three-bedroom house in Bishopdale, which opened at $500,000 and sold for $656,000.
A big five-bedroom semi-rural property with a swimming pool on George Noble Rd, Yaldhurst, sold for $1.62 million and a three-bedroom home on Highsted Rd, in Casebrook, opened at $450,000 and sold at $627,500.
Kennedy said auctions prioritise people who are cash and unconditional buyers.
He said about half of Harcourts Gold listings go to auction with a 50-55 per cent clearance rate on the day and in what they call the “mop up” another 25-30 per cent are under offer or sold, making the auction arena success rate around 75-80 per cent.
“Last year, our calendar year, our clearance rate across auctions was 82 per cent so when you look at it from that perspective you’re giving yourself a pretty good chance of selling and getting a result.”
The market is not as strong as it was in 2020 and 2021 but it’s still a good market, he said, with a mix of first, second and third-home buyers as well as investors.
There may always be some owners who would have liked more for their property, they know at auction they get a cash, unconditional buyer so have the certainty to be able to move on with their plans.
Connor Patton, Bayleys head auctioneer, said the company also last week was also good in with seven out of 14 properties selling.
“That was the same as the week before, we’ve been running at about 50 per cent for the last couple of weeks and auctions have been performing relatively well there.”
There were several auctions with multiple bidders across price points, including a property on Knowles St, in Merivale, where two bidders took the price up to $3.05 million.
That kind of price is becoming more common for Christchurch but not as common as in Auckland and the money certainly goes further in the southern city, Patton said.
“That was in a nice area in Merivale, it was a 357sq m lovely home.”
Another property in Halswell had five or six bidders fighting for the four hectare lifestyle property with two dwellings on Quaifes Rd, which sold for $1.76 million.
“It was a four-hectare block and it was next to an area that’s been developed quite a lot for sections and things, so there was two nice properties on it but arguably a land-bank for future with the development in that area, so that proved popular for sure.”
By Catherine Masters, OneRoof.co.nz
