Bids soar $830k above value

The former hospice was marketed to developers, professionals and families. Photo / Supplied

Hospice property valued at $570,000 fetches $1.4m in brisk bidding.

A property sold by an Auckland hospice fetched $830,000 above valuation.

Hospice West Auckland's Henderson property, valued at $570,000, fetched $1.4 million.

Cynthia Sherwood, sales manager at Harcourts Blue Fern, said bidding on the six-bedroom house on its huge 2407sq m section started at $500,000 but quickly climbed.

"The final sale price blew away the crowd and the vendor's expectations," she said.

The hospice had not used the property for some time, but rented it out to Plunket.

The house at 8a Woodford Ave was marketed to developers, professionals and families, advertising its potential.

Hospice manager Barbara Williams said she was delighted with the price and the hospice wanted to expand in-house services for people who needed more intensive care.

The Woodford Ave land was given to the hospice in 1988 by the Waitakere City Council, led by the mayor at the time, Tim Shadbolt, as a base for hospice home-care services.

But by 2005, the hospice had outgrown the house and moved to a larger purpose-built building in Beach Rd, Te Atatu.

So the Woodford Ave house was rented to Plunket for six years.

The hospice board will use the money from the sale for its operations.

Ms Williams said the hospice had 14 nurses who provided care to about 180 patients at any one time and needed to secure funding well beyond what it received annually from the Waitemata District Health Board.

"Around 80 per cent of people want to die at home," Ms Williams said of patients in the area of 220,000 people.

"I think the property was a key part of who we are as a hospice. But it's not the right place for our hospice now and we need more land than we had there," she said.

The board was looking at options.

Plunket has already shifted to Enterprise Drive in Henderson, Ms Williams said and Harcourts did not charge to sell the property.

Data released yesterday in the NZ Property Report, compiled by realestate.co.nz, showed inventory levels - which measure the number of weeks it would theoretically take to sell all unsold housing stock on the market - fell a further 1 per cent nationally from last month to 30.5 weeks.

It was 21 per cent down on the same time last year, and well below the long-term average of 40 weeks. Auckland saw its inventory fall to its lowest level in five years to 17.4 weeks.

Realestate.co.nz's marketing manager Paul McKenzie said the number of properties for sale in Auckland was extremely tight.

"The Auckland property market is especially active at the moment and the low inventory will no doubt continue to raise confidence amongst sellers in the region," he said.

The business said 11,514 properties were listed nationally last month, a 7.6 per cent lift from the previous month and a 0.3 per cent increase on the same time last year.

The average asking price of new listings steadied for the start of the traditional spring period at $429,312.