An award-winning trophy home in Christchurch has hit the market - and it is unlike anything else in the neighbourhood.
OneRoof reported the four-bedroom house in Halswell sits in the middle of a flat 3.37ha block of land zoned for development.
Bayleys listing agent Chris Jones told OneRoof the property at 70 Quaifes Rd was surrounded by hundreds of smaller homes.
The vendors built the large cedar-clad home a decade ago when the area was semi-rural and there were no real neighbours to speak of, Jones told OneRoof.
Since then, the surrounding land has been opened up to developers. Now the area has come to life.
Jones said having such a beautiful home on what was effectively development land was a “bit unusual”.
"Often these subdivisions have an older cottage on them, whereas this property comes with a substantial, award-winning home," he told OneRoof.
"Without a house there, it would just be developers and investors looking at it, but because it’s got the nice house, we’ve certainly got people ringing up going: 'How I can do this development so I can keep that house myself?'.
"So, I would say it’s a bit unusual in that.”
The lifestyle block could be bought and kept as is, but Jones expects it will be subdivided into around 50 sections, and that the house, if kept, would sit on a 1000sq m-1500sq m section.
“The house is too valuable to bowl - most buyers would be very keen to keep it.”
Jones expected there would be good demand for the property if it were to be subdivided and resold on a 1000sq m plus section because there were not many that size around.
"They usually sell well. This one is next level again because it was only 2015 when it was built," he told OneRoof.
Halswell is one of the country's fastest-growing suburbs and is set to benefit from a new shopping centre and two new supermarkets on or around Halswell Rd.
Jones said the newer parts of Halswell were particularly popular with second-home buyers and out-of-towners with a budget of between $900,000 and $1.1m to spend. The high demand for rental properties also made it a good choice for investors.
"A lot of people who come to Christchurch from outside do love Halswell because it’s brand-new stock and it’s close to town.”
Harcourts salesperson Fernanda Hammett, who is based in Halswell, told OneRoof there was a lot of demand for properties in the area because of its good schooling, proximity to the CBD and greenery.
But despite the numerous new subdivisions popping up, Hammett said there was currently not enough stock on the market to meet that demand.
Houses were often sold within two to three weeks of hitting the market.
