Agent Vicky Todd said the house's section size in a premium Whanganui location as well as the floodlit tennis court and swimming pool were major attractions. Photo / Supplied
Agent Vicky Todd said the house's section size in a premium Whanganui location as well as the floodlit tennis court and swimming pool were major attractions. Photo / Supplied
Whanganui has a new record for its most expensive residential sale.
Property Brokers real estate agent Vicky Todd and her team sold the five-bedroom, four-bathroom mansion at 2 Eaton Cres in Otamatea that settled on Tuesday last week for a price of $2 million.
According to Real Estate Institute ofNew Zealand (REINZ) figures, that beats the last highest Whanganui residential sale of $1.6 million.
"It is actually very high value for Whanganui given our median sale price is considerably lower than the rest of the country," Todd said.
In April the median price for Whanganui was $500,000 while for New Zealand that figure was $875,000.
The Eaton Cres property was bought by local people, Todd said.
The house, which was built in 1925, is 356sq m sitting on 4000sq m of land, with four living spaces, a floodlit tennis court and a large swimming pool. It has two garages.
Whanganui typically did not have many houses selling for more than a million dollars until recently, Todd said.
In its May report, REINZ said vendors in the Manawatū-Whanganui region were struggling to adjust expectations and accept a market downturn compared with April last year.
The Eaton Cres house took 56 days to sell, Todd said.
It did not have open homes and was shown to prospective buyers via appointments with the agents.
A view inside 2 Eaton Crescent, Whanganui. Photo / Supplied
The same house was the most expensive in Whanganui when it last sold in 2014, and back then the price was $800,000.
"There's the rare factor with this home," Todd said, pointing out the house's section size in a premium Whanganui location as well as the floodlit tennis court and swimming pool.
Valocity director of valuation James Wilson said it was clear the Eaton Cres house was "not typical of the average Whanganui house".
Valocity's director of valuation James Wilson said it was clear the Eaton Crescent house was 'not typical of the average Whanganui house'. Photo / Supplied
He said in the recent housing cycle there had been a lot of records broken in the regions throughout New Zealand.
That was thanks to the cost of borrowing being cheap and supporting house price growth as well as a transition away from big centres into regional New Zealand, Wilson said.
"However, the current market, obviously, it has gone soft around the country.
"We're not seeing as many of those FOMO [fear of missing out]-driven, record options we'd be seeing a year and a half ago."
He said while it was a "wow moment" for Whanganui, it was important other homeowners kept it in context and did not expect regular record-breakers.
