Coming with an 808sq m section, this home at 30 Bowater Pl in Papatoetoe would best appeal to developers, its marketing agents say. Photo / Supplied
Coming with an 808sq m section, this home at 30 Bowater Pl in Papatoetoe would best appeal to developers, its marketing agents say. Photo / Supplied
There seemed to be a sense buyers were pausing to take a breath at three open homes the Herald visited on a day the Government's major housing shake-up kicked into effect.
Out of two Papatoetoe and one Manurewa open home viewings the Herald called in to yesterday, just one potential buyer came to look.
Its young owners bought it for $740,000 in 2019 as first-home buyers, and now hoped to capitalise on its appeal with investors and owner-occupiers to sell and upgrade.
But, with new tax changes designed to hurt investors taking effect on all houses bought from this weekend onwards, just one family arrived to view the house.
They had, in turn, just sold their Papatoetoe home and its more than 1000sq m section to developers for more than $1 million during the week.
The owner hoped she had timed the market right to get a peak sale price, while now being able to look for a new home with less competition from investors.
"We sold just before the new rules came into place, so I think it has played to our benefit," she said.
Chosen at random, the three South Auckland homes alone cannot give a picture of wider market trends.
However, home to many of the city's lower-priced homes, South Auckland had long been a buying hot spot for investors, traders and first-home buyers.
That meant real estate agents and pundits viewed it as a potential litmus test to get an early feel about whether the Government's recent housing shake-up would have an impact on pushing investors out of the market and cooling prices.
The owners of this home on Papatoetoe's pleasant Landscape Rd are asking for $969,000. Photo / Supplied
That shake-up included extending the bright-line test to 10 years, meaning anyone who resold a house that wasn't the family home within 10 years of buying would now have to pay tax on gains from its rise in value.
It also included a second change stopping investors from reducing their taxable income by claiming interest payments as a business expense.
If successfully passed by Government, the tax changes would affect those who bought homes this weekend sooner than it would those who had bought earlier, and many investors claimed the changes would send property investment costs ballooning.
This home at 1/79 Hillcrest Rd in Papatoetoe has an $825,000 asking price and current weekly rent of $770. Photo / Supplied
But Ray White marketing agent Campbell Simon said the Hillcrest Rd home, which was owned by an investor - had been listed weeks before the new changes were announced.
It had also earlier gone to auction but been passed in.
Ray White's Karlen Athnaeil also said it was the third week of open homes at 30 Bowater Pl and that the home and its 808sq m section was attracting interest from developers.
Ray White Manukau's office held its last auction before the new changes on Thursday night and 65 per cent of the 15 homes listed sold.
Manukau office co-owner Tom Rawson said the office would have typically expected 85 per cent of homes to sell during each auction over the past year of Auckland's booming market.
Coming with an 808sq m section, this home at 30 Bowater Pl in Papatoetoe would best appeal to developers, its marketing agents say. Photo / Supplied
However, the Government's new rules had had an impact, he said.
"We lost bids last night because of the uncertainty [over the tax changes]," he said.
"There were nervous people pulling out. At one auction, two out of the five registered bidders pulled out. And some sellers have now postponed, they're in a holding pattern."
Still the auction also proved a success for first-home buyers like newly married Rachel and Patrick Walsh, both 25.
They snapped up a renovated three-bedroom home at Patricia Pl in Hill Park, for $1.115m, after 18 months of searching and saving.
"This time last year we were supposed to be at an auction, but it was the day we went into lockdown. We missed out on the house, so we kept looking," Rachel told OneRoof.
"We really wanted to stay around Hill Park, so we've been living with my parents and saving and saving to get more deposit," Patrick added.
The home at 1/79 Hillcrest in Papatoetoe is aimed at investor buyers. Photo / Supplied
The price paid was "right at our limit", the couple said.
There was also other success stories during the week with a renovated Greenlane home on Maungakiekie Ave, next to Cornwall Park selling at auction for $9.9m - a new record sale price for an auction sale.
Amy Walsh talks to the Herald about search efforts after her 19 year old daughter Maia Johnston disappeared in Totara Park Upper Hutt. Video / NZ Herald
