A mixed bag at Ray White City Apartments auction with competitive bidding on some and no bids for a quick flick

This week's Auckland auction at Ray White City Apartments was slightly unusual in that half of the apartments on offer were larger properties that were likely to appeal more to owner-occupiers than the smaller units that are standard fare for investors, and a large retail premises was also offered for sale.

Of the nine properties put up for sale, five sold under the hammer and four were passed in, and of the eight apartments offered, five sold and three were passed in.

Those that didn't sell included a unit in the Cityzone building in Liverpool St that had only been purchased in July for $330,000, had a new furniture package installed and put back on the market. There were no bids for it and it was passed in.

However there was keen competition for a couple of studios in the historic Aucklander building in Rutland St (pictured) and they sold at gross rental yields of 6.4% and 7.7%.

In general, the larger, better quality apartments continue to be sought after and there is usually competitive bidding on them, but investors are being a bit more cautious with the smaller units.

The full results of this week's auction are below:

• 2E/25 Rutland St. The Aucklander building (Pictured). A 28 square metre, furnished studio in a heritage building. Rented at $280 a week. Sold for $226,000, providing a gross rental yield of 6.4%. Rates were $940 and the body corporate levy $3020, which reduced the yield to 4.7%. No sales history available. The agent was Gillian Gibson.
• 1C/25 Rutland St. The Aucklander building. A 28 square metre, furnished studio. Rented at $280 a week. Sold for $190,000, providing a gross rental yield of 7.7%. Rates were $940 and the body corporate levy $2895, which reduced the yield to 5.6%. No sales history available. The agent was Gillian Gibson.
• 119/57 Mahuhu Cres. Hudson Brown building. Leasehold. A 105 square metre, two bedroom unit with a car park. Vacant. Passed in with a highest bid of $250,000. Rates were $1816 and the body corporate levy $11,166 including ground rent. According to QV.co.nz the unit was originally purchased for $661,000 in 2006 and resold for $242,000 in 2009. The agent was Aileen Wu.
• 11M/16 Gore St. Harbour City building. A 39 square metre, one bedroom unit. Vacant. Sold for $271,000. Rates were $1101 and the body corporate levy $2773. The agents were May Ma and Mark Li.
• 2006/11 Liverpool St. Cityzone building. A 44 square metre, two bedroom furnished unit. Vacant. There were no bids on the property and it was passed in. According to QV.co.nz the unit had been purchased in July this year for $330,000. The agent was Krister Samuel.
• 104/132 Vincent St. 132 Vincent building. A 73 square metre, two bedroom, furnished unit with a car park. Rented at $600 a week. Sold for $641,000, providing a gross rental yield of 4.9%. Rates were $2553 and the body corporate levy $4690, which reduced the yield to 3.7%. According to QV.co.nz the unit had been purchased for $460,000 in 2012. The agent was Keisha Gutierez.
• 50/146 Fanshawe St. Marina Park complex. A 77 square metre, two bedroom unit with a car park. Vacant. Sold for $520,000. Rates were $1455 and the body corporate levy $3575. According to QV.co.nz the unit had been purchased in 2011 for $230,000. The agents were May Ma and Mark Li.
• 4A/22 Emily Place. Emily Apartments building.  A 112 square metre, two bedroom unit in a character building. Vacant. There was an opening bid of $400,000 for the unit at which point the auctioneer made a vendor bid of $700,000 and when there were no further bids it was passed in. According to QV.co.nz the unit had been purchased for $365,000 in 2011. The agent was Jean Ooi. 
• R1/47 Hobson St. A 409 square metre retail premises. Vacant. Passed in with a highest bid of $2.05 million plus GST. The agent was Victor Liu.