KEY POINTS:
There was fresh evidence that the gloss has come off the property market yesterday as savvy buyers took advantage of vendor misery when unit specialist City Sales auctioned nine inner-city Auckland units.
Vendors lost a collective $369,000: the amount slashed from the price they had originally paid a few years ago compared to yesterday's results.
The nine units had fetched about $1,766,000 previously, according to figures supplied by City Sales. Yesterday, the same units went for $1.4 million, most selling only slightly above the reserve. Only one unit was passed in under reserve, with buyers showing little appetite for a Viaduct Point apartment marketed as "over-committed owner in deep water".
Not one unit fetched more than the price paid between 2000 and 2004, showing the poor state of the apartment market in Auckland's central-city area.
Worst hit was a Queen St apartment in the large Volt on Queen block where the vendor took a $70,000 bath. The two-bedroom corner suite in the high-rise block had sold for $280,000 previously but yesterday went for $210,000.
The unfortunate owner of a Railway Campus unit, about to be evacuated for extensive structural and roof repairs, lost $56,000, having originally paid $96,000. The reserve was $30,000 and the first bid $5000.
That unit's buyer faces the prospect of no tenants next year, yet still having to pay leasehold land fees to owner Ngati Whatua O Orakei Maori Trust and body corporate charges.
The one-hour auction at Hopetoun Alpha in Beresford St in the CBD drew a crowd of about 100 people. Hardest to sell were two units in The Sebel Suites Hotel on the waterfront in the Viaduct Basin. A South Islander had put both places on the hotel's level five up for auction and lost $70,000 on the deal, suffering a $35,000 price cut on each unit leased to the hotel.
Martin Dunn, head of City Sales, was not surprised at the price slump, saying people who bought before apartments were built paid far too much.
"There's two markets: off-the-plan and the real market. The people who bought apartments off the plans are taking the losses. I say to them the prices they paid were false. The only thing we can say to them about this is our firm didn't sell the units to them in the first place," Dunn said. Earlier this month, City Sales took four units to auction. Two were passed in. The other two suffered big price drops. At least nine more units will be auctioned on October 3.
Feeling the Pain
Stanford
189 Hobson St
Two-bedrooms with tenant, no carpark
Marketed as "Pay attention"
Last sold September 2003, $157,000
Yesterday:
Sold for $125,000
Loss: $32,000
Volt on Queen
430 Queen St
Two-bedroom, no carpark
Marketed as "Final whistle"
Last sold at unknown date, $280,000
Yesterday: Sold for $210,000
Loss: $70,000
8 On Quay
8 Quay St
Two-bedroom, with carpark
Marketed as "Out of here", South Island owner
Last sold February 2003, $229,000
Yesterday: Sold for $225,000
Loss: $4000
Sebel Suites Hotel
85 Customs St West
Two studio units, no bedrooms, no carparks
On leasehold land
Marketed as "Forsaken"
Last sold December 2000, $195,000 each
Yesterday: $160,000 for each unit
Loss: $70,000
Viaduct Point
125 Customs St West
One bedroom, no carpark
Marketed as "Damage control", over-committed owner
On leasehold land
Last sold November 2004, $275,000
Yesterday: Passed in at $225,000
Unrealised loss: $50,000
Princeton
30 Symonds St
Two bedrooms, no carpark, no tenant
Marketed as "Starter kit", freehold
Last sold for about $130,000, date unknown
Yesterday: Sold for $117,000
Loss: $13,000
Railway Campus
26 Te Taou Cres
Two bedrooms, no carpark
On leasehold land, building to be evacuated
Marketed as "Terminal"
Last sold August 2004, $96,000
Yesterday: Sold for $40,000
Loss: $56,000.
Columbia
15 Whitaker Place
Three bedrooms, no carpark
On leasehold land, student zone
Marketed as "Duty free"
Last sold December 2002, $209,000
Yesterday: Sold for $145,000
Loss: $64,000
