Developers start to move on Flat Bush

Large tracts of Flat Bush land on the southern outskirts of Auckland have changed hands in sales worth more than $31 million in recent weeks.

Barfoot & Thompson figures released yesterday showed three Flat Bush deals in two months, which director Peter Thompson said would see many hectares of farmland converted into housing.

Agents - understood to be from Barfoot's Highland Park office - sold two blocks of land for more than $10 million in December and a further lot for $11 million last month.

Barfoot's Meadowland manager Jim Allnatt said Flat Bush bare sections of between 400sq m and 450sqm were selling for more than $200,000 and prices had been climbing rapidly. The office had sold blocks of land in the area for more than $10 million in the past 15 months.

Barfoots' Highland Park manager Jon Simpson said "privacy restraints" prevented him from talking about any of the deals he had been involved in.

Manukau City has earmarked Flat Bush to accommodate a population that it expects to balloon from the present 280,700 to 600,000 by 2046.

The 1700ha Flat Bush area was identified by Auckland's Regional Growth Strategy for residential development as one of the last greenfields areas within the metropolitan urban limits.

Many luxury homes changed hands last month. Nearly 40 per cent of Barfoots' sales were of houses worth more than $500,000 and 20 per cent were of homes worth more than $750,000.

Other sales figures for the month were down slightly on December, which Mr Thompson attributed to seasonal fluctuations.

Barfoots sold 878 houses last month for an average price of $454,345, compared with 736 in December at an average $466,529.

Real Estate Institute figures for December showed Auckland's median house price was $350,000. Its figures for last month are due soon.