A potentially earthquake prone, one bedroom apartment that according to QV.co.nz had been purchased for $505,000 in January was resold this week for $775,000, an increase of $270,000 (53%) in three months.
The apartment was located at 31B Sales St behind Victoria Park Market and had a floor area of 90 square metres.
It was in a character building and had features such as high stud ceilings, exposed brick walls, timber beams, timber floors, stained glass windows and a fireplace.
However, it had also been given a category D seismic strength rating, which means it is rated as meeting just 20-33% of the National Building Standard and is classified as potentially earthquake prone.
It was auctioned at this week's regular Ray White City Apartments auction and prior to the commencement of bidding the auctioneer took the unusual step of stating that anyone who had not read the seismic report on the property, which was supplied with the auction documents, should not bid for it.
Bidding for the property opened at $550,000 and proceeded briskly from there with several keen bidders trying to outdo one another until it was sold under the hammer for $775,000.
It was not the only property to be resold at a substantial premium after a short period of time.
At the same auction a two bedroom apartment in the Federal City building on Federal St was given an even quicker flick.
According to QV.co.nz it had been purchased in March this year for $475,500 and appeared to have been pimped up and put straight back on the market and sold at this week's auction for $540,000, an increase of $64,500 a month after being purchased.
Of the eight properties offered at the auction, all but one sold under the hammer.
See below for the full results:
- 101/421 Queen St. Kiwi on Queen Building. A 35 square metre, one bedroom furnished unit. Vacant. Sold for $288,000. According to QV.co.nz it had been purchased for $127,000 in 2007.Rates were $965 and the body corporate levy $3817. The agent was Aileen Wu.
- 31B Sale St. Quick flick. A 90 square metre, one bedroom character apartment with a Category D seismic rating (potentially earthquake prone). Vacant. Sold for $775,000. According to QV.co.nz it had been purchased for $505,000 in January this year. Rates were $1966 and the body corporate levy $2564. The agents were Mitch Agnew and Ryan Bridgman.
- 6D/100 Greys Ave. Amora building. A 34 square metre furnished studio with balcony. Vacant. Sold for $305,000. According to QV.co.nz it had been purchased for $155,000 in 2005. Rates were $1113 and the body corporate levy $3211. The agents were Damian Piggin and Daniel Horrobin.
- 808/207 Federal St. Federal City building. Quick flick. A 61 square metre, two bedroom unit with a balcony. Vacant. Sold for $540,000. According to QV.co.nz it had been purchased for $475,500 in March this year. Rates were $1397 and the body corporate levy $5223. the agents were May Ma and Mark Li.
- 203/47 Wakefield St. The Sun building. A 19 square metre unit furnished unit. Rented at $305 a week. Sold for $225,000. According to QV.co.nz it had been purchased for $116,500 in 2002. Rates were $1010 and the body corporate levy $3277. The agent was James Mairs.
- 8A/189 Hobson St. The Stanford building. A 35 square metre, two bedroom unit with a car park. Vacant. Sold for $340,000. According to QV.co.nz it had been purchased for $208,000 in 2007. Rates were $1088 and the body corporate levy $4763. The agents were May Ma and Mark Li.
- 3BC/23-31 Hobson St. A single car park in the parking building opposite the Heritage Hotel. Sold for $66,500. rates were $314.46 and the body corporate levy $890. Rental income was estimated at $65 to $80 a week. The agent was Krister Samuel.
- 311/31 Davis Cres. Quest Newmarket building. A 30 square metre, studio under management contract to the hotel. There were no bids on the property and it was passed in. The agent was James Mairs.
84 Comments
We are doomed as a country for now and in the future. If land costs this much now then we are all going to have to live in apartment blocks. This is unacceptable and I pity anyone who doesn't own a house as you are doomed forever. Is this a country we want to be living in? The only thing that can fix this is 20% interest rates or another World War which will get the population down, unfortunately I dont foresee any of that, but then again neither did anyone foresee the credit crunch, 80s stockmarket crash, WW1, WW2, Dotcom bubble...
Do you think the problem of high land prices and property is the high population? No it's not.
It's as simple as this: there is a bubble
And every bubble has two main factors: the spread believe that prices will continue increasing (and your comment just confirms that) and an unlimited amount of credit (because the banks also are part of the first group and consider irrealistic equity when lending more and more)
It will burst. No need to kill half of the population for prices to decrease, just wait and see.
Viewed Sale Street and most (not all) of the buyers viewing had kiwi accents so seemed local. Plenty of boomer types. It's a nice enough place but not spectacular and has no car park. I'm stunned it went for that much, even in the context of the current market. Starting to get a strong sense of my time living in Ireland during the boom...
There are three simple answers to slowing down and recorrecting the housing market.
1) Massively restrict Non Resident buyers, we all witness how the housing market ground to a halt when the IRD changes first came in to effect last October.
2) Stop allowing immigrants to purchase their citizenship but just buying (Supposedly investing) properties here as it causing our housing market t drastically over inflate, locking out actual NZ Citizens.
3) Tighten up immigration, the people coming here need to be qualfied and skilled able to contribute to New Zealand. Preferably by setting up new businesses (Being a Landlords should be excluded from that new business list as it only perpetuates the house price inflation).
....I can tell you the pressure coming on us mum and dad investors to join the gold riush is huge. I'm diversified, but cripes I admit I have moments of panic that I'm not in boots and all with property. Can't imagine how the pressure must be for someone with no property. The situation that has developed is terrible.
Its not too bad (speaking as one without property), friends of mine who have over leveraged on property have stopped shaking their heads at me and are now getting worried about job security, negative cashflow etc. Having said that, someone I know has just re-done their home loan down to a cheaper rate....and have treated themselves to a brand new BMW X5 as they're "not paying any more than I was".
Stamp Duty
Can't be done - because of a clause in the NZ-South Korea FTA - so says John Key - The NZ-China FTA requires identical treatment as all other countries including South Korea
Then John Key travels to China to renegotiate the NZ-China FTA
You would have thought the smartest thing to do would be to renegotiate the NZ-South Korea FTA and get rid of that clause because it doesn't seem Korean's are such large buyers of NZ residential property
Then we could impose stamp duties on all Foreigners
Hong Kong and Singapore did it - so they must not have FTA's with South Korea
Who signed us up with that stupid FTA?
A 5% land tax per annum should sort out the offshore buyers. I can't work out why we can't charge stamp duty when they charge a 10% stamp duty on foreign buyers in HK and point blankly you aren't allowed to buy property in China.
The playing field seems to be on the side of a hill.
Im not even sure what to make of all this anymore. I was angry and worried and tired of swimming against the tide. Now I feel like I'm watching a slow moving car crash from the side of the road. With no way for it to be stopped and at serious risk of being slashed by the shrapnel.
You cannot beat a millionaire from overseas or even here buying up your homeland, and birth right.
You have been sold down the road, even blocked as it is, in Awkland.
You have been blocked too. By our 'Dear Leader and his cohorts"
I suggest stop working, go on the dole and get a free rental from Social Welfare, via the Taxpayer funded rental scheme.
That will learn them, that HardWorkers are really required to make things work in this unfair country....Eventually.
Might take a time, as all Hardworkers would have to all down tools, whatever it is you do, with all your jobs.
Nuts is it may seem, when all the NZ Hardworkers really band together, someone will really take notice. It might take a revolution, too.
But you will have to block the Hardworkers from coming in from overseas and all those so-called millionaires, gambling on you not doing a thing, but Renting..and keeping 3 or more jobs going to pay for their ....easy pickings.
Otherwise, the Government, will continue your decline in interest and your decline in having a home of your own....and pull out all the stops...in between.
Sorry mate, I feel for your dilemma, but we brought all this on ourselves, when voting in the wrong party hearty brigade. Because inflation is everything...to them.
And it is in houses.....primarily in Awkland...because the have their hand in the till...
Yours.
I very much agree with you Hardworker and Alter Ego, though we're still citizens and we have the majority of the voting power. If it also takes shaming our government in to action then that's what we'll do!
We all know that one of the main reason why Auckland's house prices are so over inflated is a lot due to money laundering and Non Residents looking for a safe haven for their capital, which is a false economy by the way.
If other countries are prepared to do something about this, I do not see why our government should sit back and be idle, when we know it's having a drastic effect on NZ and is basically turning our young generation in to tenants which will have a huge negative affect on all our well being.
Here's an example of how the UK is taking a stand against corruption:-
http://www.transparency.org.uk/publications/paradise-lost/
Paradise Lost: Ending the UK’s role as a safe haven for corrupt individuals, their allies and assets.
Paradise Lost is a thorough analysis of the UK’s role in global corruption, outlining the multitude of ways in which the UK is enabling corrupt individuals to enjoy luxury lifestyles and cleanse their reputations. This includes:-
* The ability to buy UK property anonymously through foreign companies.
* The UK’s Overseas Territories offering secretive company ownership
* Lack of powers for law enforcement to seize stolen assets.
* Role of UK based accountants, lawyers, estate agents and other “professional enablers” in making it easy for corrupt individuals to hide their cash.
* An anti-money laundering system that is easy to bypass in order to launder money with impunity.
Key recommendations include:-
* Ensure the UK’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies introduce centralised public registers of beneficial ownership, and ensure corrupt individuals cannot buy UK property with impunity.
* Act on unexplained wealth by increasing the capabilities of the UK’s asset recovery regime to seize corrupt funds.
* Fix the flaws in the UK’s anti-money laundering regime – overhauling the supervision of the rules, and prosecuting complicit professional enablers.
Sound familiar....?
The fire sale continues......NZ First's ratings must be going up by the day at the moment.
Come on you guys, it's not that bad. Auckland is a the super-city of NZ and NZ is highly rated. A funky apartment like this will go for a premium. Other ones were considerably cheaper and nice two bedroom units in Central Auckland sell for high prices like this too. There are quite a few couples with both earning high salaries that may see this as a better choice than a standard three bedroom home in the suburbs. It is something you can just lock up and leave when you go travelling.
Interesting statistics. Do you know what the CV is? I do think the rise of the Chinese middle-class which is kind of unprecedented has had a major impact. NZ has decided to go global so this sort of thing is not unexpected. All I can say, hopefully I am allowed to, is that you could do worse. The Chinese do integrate quite well into modern European societies, make the kids do piano and violin for example and generally don't have incompatible beliefs and will inter-marry.
I disagree. In certain individual cases they are wrong but I can get a general idea of what the sale price will be by using the CV as a benchmark. Different suburbs tend to sell over CV on average by a different percentage. Different types of houses too and after studying hundreds of them I was starting to get good at guessing what their sale price would be.
I was also tracking average percentage over CV for auctions to see if the market was trending up or down. Auctions tended to have an average over CV of around 35%. If they went below 30% I'd know that we were on the way down and if they went closer to 40% I'd know it was trending ever upward. It was kind of my hobby, much to many commentator's ire.
G'day Zachary. Just out of interest what would you do if properties starting slipping well beneath the 30%? Would you sell or are you keeping all your properties for the long term? How many properties do you own, if that is not too personal a question? And if you had to take a guess on when the market will peak (the trillion dollar question) when would you say?
I have only four properties including my own residence so am a pretty lightweight landlord although as you can imagine double digit annual price increases are a bit embarrassingly high in dollar terms. However as you know it is unrealised and I live pretty frugally.
I don't think all properties would drop 30% across the whole city and consider I own ones in a very desirable area. I would expect in such a scenario for there to be significant drops starting on the outer fringes of the city. I would probably sell one now if my tenant left but I don't like to give tenants notice on a whim and kind of go with the flow. I am not really a speculator but just want to secure housing and income for my family as our lives change.
I have been expecting property prices to reach a ceiling soon and have sort of structured things so that the family can rearrange things and live in a couple of the current rentals for attending university and another for us to possibly retire to. So my properties are very much purchased with a view for personal use eventually and I want to keep them for the very long term.
So short answer is I would sell one and keep the rest because I need them. I think people should hang on if they can afford to. The peak is soon hopefully with only small single figure increases.
I am of the same mind and will certainly report it if my calculations show prices are dropping. I have already expressed concern about price rises for entry level homes in the South and West of Auckland being a bit excessive over the last year. Earlier comment battles were misinterpreted as spruiking but I was only countering people who were claiming that prices were starting to drop as that was at odds with what I was seeing.
Stamp duty all investors.
Has anyone seen the actual clause they are talking about rather than just "watching the news and listening to John Key like sheep" ?
Post it on here the specific part than mentions stamp duty. I can understand that they may not be able to single out foreign investors however it would be a blanket stamp duty on both local and foreign. Who would sign something that would restrict that. You would have to be an idiot.
Not an expert but I suspect it falls under this;
Annex 10 - E - Taxation & Expropriation:
"The determination of whether a taxation measure, in a specific fact situation, constitutes an
expropriation requires a case-by-case, fact-based inquiry that considers all relevant factors
relating to the investment, including the factors listed in Annex 10-B and the following
considerations: "
...
"...(c) a taxation measure that is applied on a non-discriminatory basis, as opposed to a
taxation measure that is targeted at investors of a particular nationality or at
specific taxpayers, is less likely to constitute an expropriation;..."
If so, its hard to see how this is applicable yet a Land Tax wouldn't fall under the same measure.
"That's why the prime minister last week said stamp duty on foreign buyers of New Zealand land may now breach FTAs," he said.
What about a stamp duty on all investors local and foreign. It seems to say that if you were to single out foreign investors it would be a breach however does anyone know if it applies to a stamp duty on all investors ?
Classic case of not knowing all the facts and ruling out a viable option just because the ex banker said so.
Ok found it
ANNEX 10-E
TAXATION AND EXPROPRIATION
The determination of whether a taxation measure, in a specific fact situation, constitutes an
expropriation requires a case-by-case, fact-based inquiry that considers all relevant factors
relating to the investment, including the factors listed in Annex 10-B and the following
considerations:
(c) a taxation measure that is applied on a non-discriminatory basis, as opposed to a
taxation measure that is targeted at investors of a particular nationality or at
specific taxpayers, is less likely to constitute an expropriation; and
I would say that a blanket tax on all investors (Local and foreign) would likely pass this test. It is applied on a non-discriminatory basis.
How is the stamp duty tax and different than the land tax that he is harping on about ?
So maybe under the Korean FTA agreement you cant apply a stamp duty to foreign investors (discriminate) however I can't see why you can't apply it to ALL investors (non discriminatory).
Make our houses our homes again. Stamp Duty 10-15% on all investors buying existing housing stock. Zero tax on new builds to encourage supply.
I would certainly rather have ObeseBallerina making the policy. Things are actually pretty good as they are for most of us. It really is only a handful of malcontents and frankly some are approaching nutter level on this website making more than their fair share of noise.
Why do so many people come to NZ? Because they see it as a land of opportunity. They can make a good life here. If you fully take advantage of what society offers you can make a good go of it and I think a lot of immigrants can see that and they wonder why many born and bred Kiwis don't. For example a childcare centre near me had a mix of Chinese and Kiwi staff but the Chinese staff worked their butts off to get their qualifications and ended up earning twice as much as their Kiwi counterparts. Sure it is anecdotal but one told me that she couldn't understand why the Kiwis didn't try harder as it was immeasurably easier if you didn't have a language barrier to overcome.
You call it Envy tax I call it Reduce Inequality Tax.
Other countries are doing it and it is successful why wouldn't NZ follow suit. The stamp duty would help pay for the new infrastructure such as the rail loop so that AUckland Rate payers wouldn't have to cover as much of the bill. Why shouldn't society benefit from investors foreign and local driving up prices and making hundreds of thousands of dollars at the expense of first home buyers.
Plus it will encourage new supply as the stamp duty wouldn't apply to existing homes. Win Win situation.
I read today about the market in the UK after they introduced the new additional 3% stamp duty for investors on 1st April. There was a rush to buy in the 3 months prior and they were worried the market would drop steeply in April. They wanted to even the playing field for FHB but not to instigate a crash. The market went up 0.2% in April. It didn't crash as demand, like here, is too high and interest rates are very low. I would say that is a good result. Stop the boom but keep the market steady. I just can't understand why the power- that-be are so nervous of introducing demand measures here. Anyone care to explain why NZ should be different.
You are all wrong.
The apartment in question may be earthquake prone but the owners do not need to do anything about it for up to thirty (30) years.
From the Council own website:
What is the timeframe for strengthening work?
"Auckland Council’s earthquake-prone building policy states the timeframe for strengthening work is 10-30 years, depending on the priority of services of the building and if it is a heritage building. The council will work with owners and tenants to develop realistic timelines for strengthening"
In practice it is closer to 30 years.
Hence the buyer has done his homework and paid the right price and the seller too, has reaped his richly deserved reward.
What a joke this is!
This would be subject to the govt's new CGT rules right as it sold within 2 years?
This is definitely a bubble, it it pops NZ is well and truly screwed.
Thanks for lazy / incompetent local and central govt politicians over the past 15 years!
We are a country of myopic dimwits we are and most don't realise it.
One of my family was at that auction and I have read a building report.
The apartment could take a second bedroom and that would justify a $700k figure.
The building is lime earth block which is rather classic but plenty of cottages of this construction are still standing.
Just to stir you all up again the successsful bidder was a telephone bidder ....but the agent was not asian.
Back to sleep.
There are several issues fuelling the Auckland property-price bubble which no one seems to care about..
High property prices isn't such a bad thing if it's accompanied by commensurate income levels... where are the incomes in Auckland? What is the average per capita, per annum income in Auckland and by how much % does it grow every year? Compared to incomes, by how much % do property prices go up by? Property prices in the UK have corresponding income levels to support the property price levels.. Can the same be said of Auckland?
Immigration - where is the focus on quality? How will they even afford the rents, forget the property prices with the given income levels in Auckland? Bring immigration focus back to quality of migrants and ensure these quality migrants get high-paying jobs..
Ban property-related investment as a pathway to immigration
Encourage only business-driven migration, which creates jobs and creates capital in NZ
Insert suitable tax provisions through legislative changes that contribute to NZ before the profits leave the country in the form of "return on capital" as reported in yesterday's newspaper about a pharma global giant which repatriated $52 million out of NZ to a European country in the guise of return on capital in a perfectly legitimate way after paying just $59,000 by way of NZ taxes. Similarly tax the profits made on speculative / investment property sales
There must be some sort of a disincentive for speculative and / or investment buying of property. In short, any property bought by anyone for a purpose other than self-occupation should be taxed appropriately, say at 30% at the time of buying and at the time of selling, if sold within a 3-year period from the date of purchase.
Land ownership - leasehold
Change the lease laws. Land is an asset upon which (usually massive) capital gains occur over time at the time of transfer of ownership. But in NZ, the lease that a lessee pays the lessor is linked to the price of the land which is unfair and unsustainable and on top of that it steadily increases due to the lease review period of 7 years (in most cases). So in such cases land which is an asset class should only yield capital gains also yields a steady revenue income which is unfair and unjust. These laws need to be amended to ensure that the lease rent is fixed for the tenure of the lease at a very nominal sum, say around $1/- per square meter, per month. This would greatly reduce the progressively increasing inequality between the lessor and the lessee. It will also remove the uncertainty a lessee faces every 7 years. It is ridiculous to have the lease rent linked to the land value which in most cases, is bound to keep on increasing. Where else in the world, apart from NZ, does this model of leasehold land ownership and treatment of land as an asset class and treatment of lease rent as a revenue income prevail?
The way things are, if they continue, the average New Zealander will become poorer and remain a tenant all his life. How can a first home buyer with limited access to funds compete against a speculator or investor with access to a relatively vast pool of funds at any property auction?
Lending
Bank lending is skewed in favor of giving loans to borrowers who are able to prove to the bank that they do not need the loan (at the cost of the genuine borrower who needs a loan) !!! The welcome home loan scheme is only for homes costing under $500,000 in Auckland. What % of the current freehold housing property inventory for sale is valued under $500,000/- to be eligible for a welcome home loan? 1%? 5%? What is the latest Auckland median home price? $800,000+ ??? So who can get a welcome home loan in Auckland?
And the main issue is that nothing is illegal. So the only way out is through legislative changes in the way property is marketed, bought, sold and taxed...
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