Would you pay $1m for this driveway?

The 188sq m Grey Lynn section has protected views to Mt Eden. Photo / Dean Purcell

A tiny slice of Auckland is up for grabs - for more than a million dollars. The 188sq m piece of north-facing land sandwiched between a warehouse and an apartment at Putiki St, Grey Lynn, is for sale for $1.15 million.

The price is nearly three times its CV of $410,000 and calculates at more than $6000 a square metre.

The $1m sliver of land is on the market as latest research highlights how the ongoing Auckland housing boom is making home ownership an unrealistic dream for many.

The average house sale in Auckland has hit $931,000, passing Sydney's $913,000 average.

A surge in property speculators is blamed by many for the rising average house prices. Data shows a steady advance of investors, from 32 per cent of all sales in 2005 to 44 per cent in March.

And figures from CoreLogic show would-be Auckland home owners are now looking to the provinces to join the property ladder. In the first three months of this year almost a quarter of sales in Whangarei, one in five in Tauranga and 17 per cent in Hamilton were to Aucklanders.

Owner of the Putiki St piece of land, Nigel Zambucka, said the asking price for the freehold land was comparable to other sales, including the recent sale of nearby 25 Nixon St for $1.15m.

"It does show how valuable land is now," Zambucka said.

"I see it as an opportunity for someone to build something themselves without having ongoing body corporate fees or risks of a leaky build."

The average body corporate cost for an Auckland apartment was $5000 a year.

Zambucka said if a developer built on the site all additional costs would be passed on to the eventual buyer.

The land had resource consent for a 300sq m, three-level apartment and had storm and waste water, power and phone connected to the site.

Artist impressions of what may be built on the site show a stylish apartment with a roof deck and water views from the first-floor level.

Zambucka previously owned the properties behind the section and placed height covenants on them so the views to Mt Eden from the section were protected.