It used to be that chattels extended no further than curtains and light fittings. But the property slump means buyers can expect anything from luxury furniture to golf carts to come with their dream home.
"If there's anything that's going to soften the deal, agents are prepared to
go into battle for it," said Bayleys agent Angela Rudling.
She has seen everything from ride-on lawnmowers to farm equipment thrown in, with fitted European-style coffee machines worth thousands of dollars an increasingly common makeweight.
Fellow Bayleys agent David Rainbow said buying a top house without chattels was "like buying a Rolls-Royce with a plastic interior".
He once sold a house in the Auckland suburb of Kohimarama on the agreement a $20,000 garden sculpture by New Zealand artist Terry Stringer remained on the property.
Another house in Parnell sold on the agreement the stainless steel dining room table was left behind because it had been designed to match the front door.
The trend is mirrored across the Tasman, with one vendor offering a new Nissan car worth almost $19,000 to speed the sale of her $800,000 home. Desperate measures perhaps but Karen O'Hagan told a Queensland paper her property, in Brisbane's southwest, had attracted only two viewers in five months on the market.
Nils Bischoff isn't going quite that far, but is hoping a different kind of transportation will seal the sale of his four-bedroom clifftop home in Gulf Harbour, north of Auckland, for $1.95m.
He's willing to throw in a deluxe $9000 golf cart with wood interior trim to use at the local 18-hole course and may negotiate a cheap deal for much of the home's imported European furniture.
"It's about selling a house finished," he said.
According to the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, the number of house sales in January was the lowest since 1992. There were 3706 sales last month, compared with 5186 in January last year.
The median house price also dropped, from $340,000 in January last year to $325,000 last month.
Another trend worrying sellers is the increased length of time taken to sell a house, up to a national median of 59 days last month, compared with 49 in January last year.
