Christmas Buying

Santa is loading up his sack with new residential property listings in Ponsonby….

Is it any wonder that some Aucklanders are going cross-eyed at the moment…? with much of the city’s population having one eye focussed on whether we get out of level three lockdown at the beginning of December, and the other eye drawn to the fast-looming Christmas period and all that entails.

While I’m as confused as the next person about what is happening with any possible moves to greater social freedoms in December, I am quite clear on what’s coming up in the Ponsonby and Grey Lynn real estate scene in the lead up to Christmas.

New stock is coming onto the market – with vendors wanting the surety of a sale which will leave them with clean slates to begin 2022.

Exemplifying this scenario, I’ve just listed three homes for sale – two of them going up for auction in the coming weeks…

The first is the epitome of open-plan living – a contemporary four-bedroom/two-bathroom dual-level home at 49 Garnet Road in Westmere – where the dining room, living room and kitchen are one huge space, with bi-fold doors giving access onto an expansive deck and al-fresco entertaining area (with Louvretec shutters) overlooking the flat grassed back yard.

Being auctioned on November 24, this is a true family home where mum and dad can cook in the modern kitchen while watching the kids playing safely on the lawn or in the tree hut at the end of the fully fenced garden. There’s plenty of room to drop in a swimming pool too.

Next up is another four-bedroom/two-bathroom residence – this one a more classically-styled home at 15 St Albans Avenue in Mt Eden. With a north-facing back yard encircled by mature trees, the 1920s heritage bungalow showcases many of the design styles of the era – with leadlight windows, original wide hallway and door frames, soaring gable ceilings, and an open fire in the separate media room.

Rounding out my trio of newly signed up listings is an industrial-styled three-bedroom/three-bathroom duplex over three floors at 703C Great North Road in Grey Lynn. The master bedroom (with en-suite) on the top floor has a resort-sized deck wrapping around it. Big enough for a spa pool.

For sale by negotiation, all I can say about this one is…. boy’s you gotta check out the outdoor BBQ and bar spaces on this beauty. It’s got not one, but two brilliant entertaining areas – including a deck bar overlooking the entire neighbourhood down to the North-Western motorway from its elevated situation.

What could you expect to pay for any of these beautiful homes.? Well, the latest real estate stats and market commentary out from property analysis entity CoreLogic notes that rising property values in Auckland over the past year were broadly the same for all suburbs on a percentage basis – ranging between 25 to 27 percent for locales south of the harbour bridge.

CoreLogic’s Quarterly Property Market & Economic Update Quarter 3 2021 reports: “Cheaper parts of the city have tended to see larger gains recently, which is likely to be a function of their lower starting point, or in other words, within an Auckland context, more favourable affordability than other parts of the city.

“The cheaper areas tend to be where first home buyers and higher leveraged investors tend to be more active, whereas movers are more prominent in expensive areas where more equity is required,” said the CoreLogic report.

The reference to Ponsonby and its surrounding suburbs is clearly obvious there. The CoreLogic data records that Ponsonby homes have a current median value of $2.542million, with neighbouring Grey Lynn homes having a current median value of $1.959million.

If you want a ‘real-time’ example of what’s happening around the city-fringe residential property scene, you may want to have read the recent OneRoof feature which profiled my sale of 71 Clarence Street in Ponsonby at auction last month.

The stunningly-refurbished and modernised former ‘cottage’ – which blossomed into a chic designer four-bedroom/three-bathroom executive open-plan pad complete with in-ground swimming pool/spa and self-contained studio, sold under the hammer for $3.83 million.

Buyer interest was nothing short of frenetic – with seven bidders in the mix until the final raise of the hands.

Phew, there’s a lot going on there as you can see. If you want to have a catch up and talk property, socially distancing as per Government regulations of course, feel free to give me a call or drop me an email.

Cheers for now.

Luke Dallow.

027 2910476

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