Partially completed Auckland apartments by the failed Du Val Group have been put up for sale at a tough time when other developments are being cancelled or sold via mortgagee sale.
Josh Coburn and James Appleby of Colliers are seeking expressions of interest for 59 two-bedroom Mt Wellington units in two buildings, with an associated 44 carparks.
By August 6, they want to hear from buyers keen on 58 and 64 to 72 Hillside Rd.
A further almost half-hectare of land beside the units is also up for sale.
“Colliers New Zealand have been exclusively appointed by the Government-appointed statutory managers of various entities associated with Du Val Property Group, from PwC New Zealand, to market the properties for sale,” advertising for Verge said.
The attempt to sell comes at a time when CBRE senior research analyst Tamba Carlton has found many other Auckland apartment schemes have been deferred or delayed due to the economic downturn.
“Abandonments are occurring at a frequency of around one per month,” her research, out in February, showed.
The size of the apartment pipeline of planned new work was continuing to drop.
Three years ago, a pipeline of 183 Auckland apartments was planned but by last year’s final quarter, that had dropped to just 69 active projects.
The number of Auckland homes for sale by one agency has also doubled in the last few years.
Barfoot & Thompson had around 3000 homes in the city on the market at one time last decade but in the last two months, it exceeded 6000 properties listed, indicating people’s reluctance to buy.
That is despite widespread hopes of a big housing recovery.
The Du Val Group of companies was placed into interim receivership in August last year after an application by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) and police entering the Remuera home of married property developers Kenyon and Charlotte Clarke.
Then the Government took the unusual step of placing it in statutory management under PwC.
Kenyon Clarke has criticised actions against the company he founded taken by PwC and the FMA.
“My daughter woke up to find an armed cop outside her bedroom door. She still can’t sleep three months later because of the trauma of that day,” Clarke wrote in an Instagram post in November.
“On August 2, [2024] the FMA raided our home. They tipped off the legacy media and turned up with photographers, armed police and a battering ram to collect a couple of iPhones, laptops and our children’s iPads,” Clarke wrote.
However, a journalist told the Herald it was neighbours – not the authorities – who alerted the media to the raid.
Other Du Val estates have also being marketed lately as PwC attempts to recover money.
In February, CBRE advertised two housing complexes in Māngere owned by an entity associated with Du Val.
Those were 72 studio units at 69 McKenzie Rd and 2-6 May Rd, where 99 studio places were built.
In February, the Herald reported that many Du Val properties were for sale.
Waitākere, Henderson and Māngere properties were being marketed by PwC, despite an expressions-of-interest campaign that opened in October and closed toward the end of November.
PwC is trying to sell the properties in this tough market in an attempt to recover the $237.6 million it says the many failed Du Val businesses owe.
The Du Val apartment developments aren’t the only troubled developments real estate agents are trying to sell.
An entire, never-lived-in Takapuna apartment building at 32-34 Tennyson Ave is up for mortgagee sale, also via Colliers.
The 46-unit Loxley Apartments on Auckland’s North Shore are up for mortgagee sale after WFT Finance – a company linked to Tauranga’s wealthy Wright family – seized possession of the project last month.
Colliers said the vendor was “motivated” and invited offers.
The apartments have never been lived in but the property is owned by Tennyson GCO, which went into liquidation in April.
The title shows WFT Finance as holding a mortgage over the property, along with a list of other financiers.
Wayne Wright, co-founder and trustee of prominent charity the Wright Family Foundation in Tauranga is listed as WFT Finance’s sole director.
Last month, the Clarkes and the FMA were in the High Court at Auckland, arguing about whether receivership should continue for the couple and the handful of Du Val companies not in statutory management.
The Clarkes want to be out of receivership, their assets unfrozen and their passports returned from the control of the High Court.
Today, Justice Jane Anderson released a minute which said: “On June 18, I continued suppression of reference to jewellery, art and firearms to give time for Mr [Ron] Mansfield KC [representing the Clarkes] to take instructions from the Clarkes.
“The Clarkes have confirmed that reference to these items is now in the public domain. They do not contend for continuing suppression. I vary the orders made on June 18 to remove the suppression of reference to those items.”
Anne Gibson has been the Herald‘s property editor for 25 years, written books and covered property extensively here and overseas.