Old home going, going, gone for over $6m

The Remuera weatherboard home and land, left, had plenty of interest at auction this week. Photo / Supplied

A 1950s weatherboard home in the posh Auckland suburb of Remuera sold for $6.348m at auction this week, one of the biggest residential auction prices recorded.

Despite a depressed national real estate market, the auction room was packed with more than 100 people on Wednesday when the Portland Rd house and 8562sq m land went under the hammer.

Bidding started at $3.5m and increased by $100,000 then $50,000 lots. Two of the six bidders took part by phone, one calling from Singapore.

The single-storey four-bedroom home had been owned by the Caughey family for more than 50 years.

The sale was one of the highest prices at auction in the history of Bayleys, said spokesman Scott Cordes.

"For a residential property under auction, yes, it's the second highest that we can remember," he said.

It was beaten only by an $8.1m sale of a homestead and 4ha land package in Pakuranga in 1987, which had belonged to the Fisher and Paykel family dynasty.

Cordes said the buyer of Portland Rd wanted to remain private.

Two weeks ago an English family paid $1.35m for a 607sq m site overlooking St Heliers. A four-bedroom house with ocean views, also in St Heliers, sold for $3.35m at auction earlier this month.

Another upcoming high-end auction expected to draw a lot of interest was property developer David Henderson's Princes Wharf apartment - the biggest apartment in New Zealand, said Cordes.