Property: Classic Devonport villa sells for $4.2m

The property at 38 Stanley Point Rd was extensively renovated. Photo / NZME.

A century-old grand villa in Devonport has sold for $4.2 million, nearly $1.3 million above its latest council valuation of $2.95 million.

Bayleys real estate agent Lynda Betts said that to the best of her knowledge the Stanley Point Rd home was a record price for a non-waterfront house in the popular heritage suburb.

Eight people submitted expressions of interest in the luxuriously renovated villa, which features four bedrooms, four bathrooms, media room, swimming pool and manicured grounds.

The successful buyers were a Devonport family who did not want to be named, Ms Betts said.

The sale follows recent data showing owners of top-end homes are getting richer faster, with Real Estate Institute chief executive Helen O'Sullivan saying $1 million-plus houses are seeing the biggest gains compared with cheaper properties.

It also comes as the number of million-dollar suburbs in Auckland has increased by eight - to 31 - in just six months, most of them on the North Shore.

The Quotable Value quarterly report shows North Shore suburbs Bayswater, Greenhithe, Mairangi Bay, Milford, Rothesay Bay and Waiake passing the $1 million mark.

Devonport's average house price is $1.254 million.

Sales of properties in the Devonport area had picked up in the past year, Ms Betts said, with waterfront houses selling from $5 million, and $6 million to $7 million on Cheltenham Beach.

The owners of the Stanley Point Rd property, Brenda Tocher and Clemenger Group chief executive Jim Moser, completely made over the house after moving from Sydney six years ago.

$850,000 for demolition job

A dilapidated house within a few minutes walk of the beach at Torbay has sold at auction for $850,000.

The 1914 wooden bungalow was built when the suburb was farmland and forest - and 45 years before the Auckland Harbour Bridge opened up the North Shore.

The house, which has been in the same family for 100 years, is on a 916sq m section on Rock Isle Rd.

Its native timbers have been ravaged by borer and the house is in poor condition from years of deferred maintenance.

Barfoot & Thompson real estate agent Charles Cadwallader said the new owners planned to demolish it and build a new house in the prime coastal street.

The house has a 2014 capital valuation of $810,000, of which $780,000 is for the land and $30,000 for the house.

Devonport record?

• 38 Stanley Point Rd.
• $4.2m - sale price.
• $2.95m - 2014 capital valuation.
• Four bedrooms, four bathrooms, swimming pool.