The sprawling single-storey property on Ascot Avenue has been on the market for over a year. Photo / Supplied
The sprawling single-storey property on Ascot Avenue has been on the market for over a year. Photo / Supplied
A home in the exclusive Auckland suburb of Remuera that's been valued at almost $3m is going under the hammer this week with a reserve of just $2.2m.
The four-bedroom, 253sqm house at 34 Ascot Ave is in the double Grammar school zone and sits on a 915sq m section.It's been spruced up with a new open plan kitchen and fresh paint and carpets.
But the property has languished on the market for the last year without attracting a buyer.
It's further evidence that top end Auckland properties appear to have taken a hit as the market has cooled and the foreign buyer ban has taken effect.
The Ascot Ave home's trustees had "made a tough call" to knock 26 per cent off the council's valuation when setting their reserve price, according to the listing on Oneroof.co.nz.
In 2017 at the height of the Auckland property boom the house was valued at $2,975,000 by Auckland Council.
Council valuations are made every three years for rating purposes - with that valuation the property's annual rates for the coming year will be $6578.79.
While the reserve price has plunged it's still well above the 2014 CV of $1,770,000.
Open homes were held on Saturday and Sunday. Real estate agent Steve Koerber from Ray White Remuera said there had been good interest from a mix of potential buyers - most of whom wanted it for a home.
The same family had owned the home for 40 years but the mother had moved out and family members were selling up.
Koerber said it had been on the market for over a year before he took it on. It felt like the owners had "ridden the market downward" since they first listed, he said.
"I think the owners are becoming more realistic. It's sat on the market, it's not sold - what more can you do? You can wait for the market to improve or you can reduce your price."
The house was built in 1910 and still has many original features including 3m high ceiling in some rooms. Photo / Supplied
Among them, the median sales price in Remuera fell from $1.85m to $1.67m, according to data from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand.
REINZ chief executive Bindi Norwell said the drop was due to fewer sales of luxury properties, combined with more apartments and lower-priced homes selling to investors and first-home buyers.
Koerber - whose expertise is in Remuera sales - said high 2017 CVs had given a lot of owners a high estimate of their home's value.
He took the unusual step of publicising a comparatively low reserve price for the Ascot Ave home because he was concerned people would write off the property when they saw such a high CV.
When an auction was publicised with no price indication, people tended to go looking for a CV, Koerber said.
I think the owners are becoming more realistic. It's sat on the market, it's not sold - what more can you do?
"I just felt that I might not get many enquiries because the intrinsic value of this particular property, based on my assessment...is much much lower than the CV."
The property is big enough to subdivide but Koerber suspected the council may not have taken into account a large pōhutukawa tree on the boundary which had protected status - potentially limiting development on the property and reducing its value.
Koerber said for a large, single-level home in Remuera - and in zone for Grammar schools - anything around the $2m mark was entry-level.
The house is on 915sqm but development could be hampered by a large pohutukawa tree at the front boundary which has legal protection. Image / Supplied
