Yabba dabba don't: Fred Flintstone home goes under the hammer

The auctioneer said the $500,000 bid for Mt Roskill's Fred Flintstone-style home was not far off a price at which the owner would sell. Further negotiations would now take place away from the auction. Photo / Supplied

Auckland's "ugliest house" is still waiting for a fairytale ending.

Buyers today said "yabba dabba don't" to the Fred Flintstone-style Mt Roskill home, leading it to be passed in at auction after just one $500,000 bid.

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Billed by a potential buyer as one of the ugliest houses they had seen, the home's less than impressive looks made it a darling with the Kiwi media, who featured it in print, online and television.

Yet despite the nationwide coverage, buyers were thin on the ground at today's Barfoot & Thompson auction of the five-bedroom home at 62b Stranolar Drive.

Just one potential buyer made a bid by phone, with the bidding all wrapped up and done within about 10 minutes.

Selling agent Alex Yang was still optimistic a deal could be done, however.

The auctioneer told those in the room the $500,000 bid was not far off a price at which the owner would sell and that further negotiation would take place away from the auction.

Yang also revealed he had several buyers lined up to make conditional offers if the house didn't sell under the hammer.

The problem for those wanting to buy was banks weren't keen to lend to them due to the home's many issues.

"People are having trouble getting finance," Yang said of the house advertised as "disaster turns into developer's opportunity".

"Three people told me they can't get finance."

The home's OneRoof advertisement reveals it may not be compliant with Auckland building codes and that is has leaking issues.

"Disaster No 1: there is no code compliance certificate Issued for the current dwelling. Disaster No 2: this dwelling has major water ingress issues," it said.

Lenders were now reluctant to offer home loans on buildings with non-compliance issues, Squirrel Mortgage's John Bolton said.

"In the best case scenario, banks would only lend on this sort of property up to 70, probably not even 80 per cent of land value. Or maybe only 50 percent for a builder," he says.

"You'd have to have at least $300,000 to $400,000 of your own cash kicking around, it's quite hard to develop a cross-lease site so that's limiting the appeal."

Yang said some buyers might want to consider inserting a clause into any sale and purchase agreement, stating that an offer was conditional on succeeding in getting finance.

Owner Sophie Jayawardene said she had chosen the colours within the igloo-style home but the place had also cost her dearly because it leaked and she blamed health issues she and her family suffered on the property.