Desperate vendor cuts price by $1.5m

14a Gibbons Rd has its own private access to Takapuna Beach. Photo / Glenn Jeffrey

If you've got a few million to spare, there's a cute little place on Auckland's North Shore going for a song.

The four-bedroom, 415sq m property at 14a Gibbons Rd, Takapuna, is on the market for $2.85 million, down from an original asking price of $4.39 million.

There's native timber throughout, marble floors and gas fires. The house features three-car garaging and three bathrooms, plus powder room - whatever that is. And if you don't relish climbing stairs, 14a also boasts a lift.

The property comes with a swimming pool and private access to Takapuna Beach, if you fancy a splash with the hoi polloi in summer.

Agent Jim Mays of Precision Real Estate says the developer wants a quick sale to concentrate on commercial construction projects.

"You are rubbing shoulders with some of the finest real estate in Auckland, certainly on the North Shore."

And he could be right: the property down the street at No 10 sold in August 2004 for a record $12.7 million.

Number 14a is one of four properties by developer Ted Manson, sold off the plans at the start of last year. They each boast separate titles, no cross lease or body corporate fee. Two sold for close to asking price soon after going to market, while the third has sold since Christmas for an undisclosed sum.

Number 14a was under conditional agreement - subject to the sale of a Waiheke Island property - for months, before coming back on the market.

Mr Mays said the developer was willing to take a hit if it got him out of the residential construction market: "He just wants it off his plate."

While the property would have dropped in value since its $4.1 million valuation of April last year, "it would [still] have to be in the late $3 millions".