KEY POINTS:
Apartment specialist City Sales sold eight places at its final auction last year and today takes a group of inner-city units to market.
The agency is offering three Railway Campus units at its 12.30pm auction in Hopetoun Alpha at 19 Beresford Square. The Hong Kong owner of these units was "fed up"and was quitting the places without putting a reserve price on them, City Sales said.
Railway Campus, Jim Speedy's 223-apartment conversion and extension of the historic Auckland Railway Station, suffered severe leaks and its roof needed replacing.
About 400 students were forced to evacuate the Quay Park building in 2007 and Auckland University then terminated its lease because the place was uninhabitable and needed a $6 million fix-up.
Last month, the first tenants moved back in which gave some relief to investors who thought they were buying a dependable investment because it came with a university lease.
Owners who could not rent their places for months were estimated to have lost a combined $4 million rent last year because the building was empty and waiting for maintenance work to begin.
City Sales got $21,000 for some Railway Campus properties last year but some desperate vendors put their places up for sale for about $8000.
Last September, an apartment there sold for $12,800 which was said to have set a new low in Auckland's apartment market.
An investor who owned six Railway Campus units and paid around $800,000 got just $101,800 back at auction last year.
Today's City Sales auction would offer a two-bedroom loft, two-bedroom and one-bedroom Railway Campus units.
Next Wednesday, Barfoot & Thompson's city apartments branch auctions a number of apartments including one in The Quadrant on Waterloo Quadrant.
On February 18, Ray White City Apartments is auctioning units in The
Federal at 207 Federal St, Ascent at 149 Nelson St.
Next Wednesday, it auctions a unit in the Sebel Suites at 85 Customs St West.
Today, Ray White auctions units in Harbour City, Harvard, Meridian and Silo.
Other apartments going under the hammer today include units in Oaks on Hobson at 188 Hobson St, Stanford at 189 Hobson St, Aura on the corner of Cook and Nelson Sts, Uptown at 14 Upper Queen St, Eden Apartments at 31 Eden Cres and a west-facing unit in Shed 23 on Princes Wharf in the CBD.
