The owner had bought the three-bedroom property on Edgeware Rd in Christchurch for $1.016 million, at the height of the boom, but had decided to trade up for a bigger home.
Harcourts Holmwood listing agent John Fulton said the sale was a standout, noting it had grown almost $100,000 in value.
“It was a really good result. The owner was thrilled,” he told OneRoof.
Fulton said property values in Christchurch had remained relatively “consistent” during the wider market downturn.
Cantabrians, he said, were more reserved about the levels of debt they took on, which meant they could absorb higher interest rates more easily.
“I think the biggest thing with the Christchurch market is people will sell, but there doesn’t seem to be the pain out there,” he said.
“Whereas I feel like in Auckland you have these real big boom-bust markets because ultimately once the interest rates creep up massively you have a lot of people who go, ‘Oh we just can’t afford the mortgage and we have to sell at whatever price we can get’.”
Other homeowners had listed properties they bought at the peak of market, such as a unit at 1/34 Holly Rd, but he said they would probably only sell if they could get more than what they paid for it.
Of the 12 properties called at Bayleys auctions last week, four sold under the hammer including two bought within the last five years.
A seven-bedroom home on Westmont St, Ilam, was purchased as an investment property in December 2019 for $728,000 and sold under the hammer on Thursday for $950,000, while a two-bedroom, one-bathroom place on Twynham Place, Aranui, was bought for $372,000 in July 2023 and sold exactly a year later for $410,000.
Bayleys agent Adam Heazlewood told OneRoof some houses bought during the boom were making a profit, but overall house values in the city were slightly down on peak levels.
He said the difference between profit and loss often depended on the individual property and whether it had a point of difference or not.
Harcourts Gold salesperson Cameron Bailey agreed: “There are always exceptions to every rule, but generally speaking if someone bought a house in 2021, they would be very lucky to get their money back on what they paid for it.”
“We are probably not in the same situation as Auckland or Wellington. It hasn’t come back as much, but it certainly has come back.”
Buyers were still turning up at open homes and auctions, he said, but they were being selective about what they bought and how much they paid.
“We are seeing some owners who are trying to get too much for their house in this market and they just don’t get it, whereas a few years ago they would just sit there wait and they would eventually get the money, but it’s different now.
