Low Metropolis values hinder payback

By SIMON HENDERY

Glamour sure ain't what it used to be.

At a bulk auction of apartments in Auckland's upmarket Metropolis tower yesterday the properties continued to sell significantly below their original sale prices.

The low prices provided further sobering news for the more than 1700 holders of Metropolis junk bonds who are still waiting on about $24 million.

It is almost a year since Metropolis developer Andrew Krukziener defaulted on repayment of the bonds.

Bond holders will not be repaid until Krukziener has sold all the tower's apartments, allowing a mortgage with the ANZ bank to be cleared.

The high number of apartments on the market has made Krukziener's task more difficult, especially with recent sales falling about 30 per cent short of the apartments' original selling price.

Bond holders are also still waiting for Krukziener to provide a revised prospectus stating how he intends to repay them.

Yesterday's auction by Bayleys Real Estate was a mortgagee sale on behalf of Harts Contributory Mortgages.

Harts put the apartments up for sale after its owner, an Indonesian investment firm, defaulted on a loan late last year.

Nine of the 10 apartments on offer were sold yesterday, although prices were on average 26 per cent below what the company originally paid.

A 34th-floor two-bedroom, two-bathroom penthouse apartment was passed in at $690,000 (including GST) after failing to reach its reserve.

It originally sold for $844,000 (excluding GST).

The other apartments fetched a total of $2.6 million, (excluding GST), compared with their original combined sale price of $$3.5 million (excluding GST).

A 12th-floor two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment originally worth $559,000 sold for $418,500.

A one-bedroom apartment on the 22nd floor, originally $286,000, fetched $208,000.

* Metropolis bond holders wishing to tell their story please email:

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