Published 24 August 2011
Bob Dey Report
CBD apartment sale numbers are returning to the pre-global financial crisis level of 2007, says City Sales principal Martin Dunn.

Mr Dunn was speaking after City Sales sold 6 units – 4 in the cbd, 2 suburban –under the hammer at its regular auction today.

Sales in the secondary market in the cbd peaked at 150/month in 2007 then declined to about 80-90/month for most of the next 4 years, bottoming at 67 in 2009. But Mr Dunn said the level had been rising this year, reaching 139 in June.
Auction results:

Queen St Valley

Manhattan, 105 Albert St, unit 10G, 42m² fully furnished corner one bedroom, rates & operational levy $4621/year, rent $400/week, passed in at $186,000 (Steve Kirk & Grant Elliott)

Learning Quarter

Eden Crescent, 36 Eden Crescent, unit 901, 38m² 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, deck, rates & operational levy $5095/year, rent $350/week, sold for $162,000 (Mike Campbell)

Metro, 82 Wakefield St, unit 10G, 26m² fully furnished studio, deck, rates & operational levy $3576/year, rent $250/week rising to $270/week from 30 September, sold for $115,000 (Hilary Seagrave & Tony Kelly)

Princeton, 30 Symonds St, unit 4H, 27m², 2 bedrooms, communal facilities, rates & operational levy $4733/year, rental assessment $300-330/week, sold for $100,000 + gst (Andrew Bond & Wendy Feng)

Pullman, 6 Princes St, room 358, 70m², fully furnished one bedroom, deck, rates & operational levy $8104/year, rental assessment $500/week to April 2012, sold for $301,000 (Wendy Feng)

Isthmus west

Freemans Bay, 21 Hargreaves St, unit 4G, 74m² 2 bedrooms, deck, 2 parking spaces, rates & operational levy $5512/year, sold for $325,000 (David Hamlyn)

St Lukes, 19 Morning Star Place, unit GD, 80m² 3 bedrooms, deck, parking space, rates & operational levy $4549/year, sold for $310,000 (May M<a & Mark Li).

http://www.bdcentral.co.nz/afa.asp?idWebPage=8338&idBobDeyProperty_Articles=16594&SID=450234148

Olly Newland interviewed by interest.co.nz’s Bernard Hickey about why hard assets such as property are better than ‘paper assets’ in an era of share market volatility and possible hyper-inflation.

from Bernard Hickey’s introduction at interest.co.nz:

“The share market is a den of thieves and is not for the small investor at all,” Newland said. “They’re tired of having their share portfolios messed around with and they’d like to get into something hard that they can see in the morning and is still there and has the same value from one day to the next.”

Soaring house values mean rates shock in some areas
By Bruce Morris Aug 23, 2011

Those whose properties have fallen in value during the downturn could get a rates cut.
Property owners in a band of central Auckland suburbs have enjoyed a leap in the value of their homes – but they will soon be paying higher rates as a result.
While values in many parts of Auckland have dipped through the real estate downturn over the past two years, those in suburbs such as Grey Lynn, Ponsonby and Westmere are well above rating capital values set in July 2008 – the last time their property valuations were set.

Read the rest here:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10746838

Home-buying conditions best in eight years – report

CATHERINE HARRIS

22/08/2011

Home affordability continues to improve, with the best buying conditions in eight years, according to mortgage brokerage Roost.

Roost’s monthly home loan affordability report said a fall in house prices and the prospect that interest rates would stay low for longer took affordability to levels not seen since September 2003, just before house prices surged.

Cities and provincial areas which improved included Hutt Valley, Auckland central and south Auckland, while affordability worsened in Christchurch, Otago and Southland, due to rising prices.

Roost spokeswoman Rhonda Maxwell said banks were easing their lending criteria because lending growth had dropped to record lows of about 1 per cent a year.

Read the rest here:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/5482369/Home-buying-conditions-best-in-eight-years-report

Yet more evidence that the property market is on the rise. Auctions are becoming more popular as real estate agents want to avoid any  liability

should they describe a property wrongly. Auctions are strictly based on an “all care and no responsibility” basis. The onus is now on the purchaser to conduct

full due diligence and at the fall of the hammer there is no come back on the agents.

Property Auctions Running Hot

REBECCA STEVENSON

22/08/2011

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/5475211/Auctions-the-hottest-ticket-in-town#share>

The overall property market may be a little sluggish still in some parts of the country but property auctions are running hot.

Recent statistics from the real estate industry have proved what many potential house buyers have probably discovered – properties selling at auction are becoming more mainstream.

June and July saw the number of residential properties up for auction at a four-year peak, according to industry website realestate.co.nz , with 1168 homes up for auction in June and 1132 in July against a typical month of about 600 auction listings.

Auckland, always at the forefront of any property trends, saw one in five listings going to auction over the past two months and accounted for 56 per cent of the 1132 national auction listings in July.

TradeMe’s Paul Ford said auction listings had “ticked up” in recent months on the site, with the most noticeable rise occurring in July, which recorded a boost in auction listings of 25 per cent on the previous month.

This increase was both because of the lift in the number of auctions listings but also because of a decrease in total listings, meaning auction listings increased proportionally, Ford said.

read more here;

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/5475211/Auctions-the-hottest-ticket-in-town#share>

Published 19 August 2011
Bob Dey report

An auction sheet of 14 apartments drew a large lineup of buyers to Ray White City Apartments yesterday. 6 units were sold under the hammer, including 3 on leasehold. Auction results:

Quay Park

Grand Central (ex-Railway Campus), 26 Te Taou Crescent, unit 6 & 74p, leasehold, 55m², 2 bedrooms, one parking space (3 separate incomes), rates $866/year, rent $350/week for the unit, parking $45/week, sold for $44,000 (Damian Piggin & Daniel Horrobin)

Scene 3, 30 Beach Rd, unit 702, 56m², one bedroom, study, secure parking space, no bid (Sean Mo) – full details not available

The Landings, 8 Ronayne St, unit 1008, leasehold, 75m² internal, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, balcony, 2 tandem basement parking spaces & storage locker, rates $1209 + gst/year, rental assessment $525-550/week unfurnished, sold for $110,000, subject to bank approval (Dominic Worthington)
Uptown

Espano, 20 Poynton Terrace, unit 12, 71m², 2 bedrooms, one garage licence to occupy, rates & body corp levy $5623/year, rental assessment $400-430/week, passed in at $375,000 (Gillian Gibson)

Victoria Quarter

Alpha, 17 Vogel Lane, unit 601, sold for $385,000 (Krister Samuel & Ellen Sparnon) – full details not available

Ascent, 149 Nelson St, unit 203, 41m², fully furnished 2 bedrooms, balcony, rates & body corp levy $3171/year, rent $330/week, sold for $125,000 (Thomas Sahs)

Harvard, 147 Hobson St, unit 1I, passed in at $125,000 (Damian Piggin & Daniel Horrobin) – full details not available

Harvard, 147 Hobson St, unit 9C, 38m², furnished 2 bedrooms, parking space, rates & body corp levy $4798/year, current periodic rent $300/week, parking vacant, passed in at $165,000 (Damian Piggin & Daniel Horrobin)

Heritage Grand, 22 Nelson St, unit 406, 72m², one bedroom, parking space, rates & body corp levy $9167/year, current rent $550/week, passed in at $293,000 (Damian Piggin & Daniel Horrobin)

Zest, 72 Nelson St, unit 921, passed in at $180,000 (Damian Piggin & Daniel Horrobin) – full details not available

Zest, 72 Nelson St, unit 1028, 48m², furnished 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, parking space leased at $50/week, rates & body corp levy $4183/year, one bedroom rented at $280/week (other used for storage), passed in at $220,000 (Damian Piggin & Daniel Horrobin)

Zest, 72 Nelson St, unit 1408, sold for $115,000 (Damian Piggin & Daniel Horrobin) – full details not available

Waterfront

Lighter Quay, 77 Halsey St, unit 309, leasehold, 73m², 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, rates $1322/year, body corp levy $8085/year including $2996/year ground lease, rent $490/week, passed in at $200,000 (James Graydon)

Princes Wharf, 137 Quay St, shed 19, unit 6, leasehold, 66m² internal, 95m² deck, one garage licence (outgoings payable but no fee), ground rent $4867/year, opex $26,437/year (including gst), rates $1529/year, sold for $126,000 (Marcus Fava)

http://www.bdcentral.co.nz/afa.asp?idWebPage=8338&idBobDeyProperty_Articles=16563&SID=667375575

ASB survey a tale of two cities
By Brian Fallow
5:30 AM Friday Aug 19, 2011

The few houses for sale in Auckland don’t stay on the market for long

Expectations that house prices will rise have jumped, especially in Auckland, ASB’s quarterly survey of housing market sentiment has found.

Nationwide, 44 per cent of respondents expect higher prices, up from 33 per cent last quarter, while 19 per cent expect them to fall, down from 25 per cent last quarter. The net balance of 25 per cent expecting prices to rise is up from 11 per cent in the previous survey.

The increase is especially strong in Auckland, a net 42 per cent expecting prices to rise, up from 20 per cent last time.

Expectations that interest rates will rise have also climbed, to a net 46 per cent from 34 per cent last time. Last month, the Reserve Bank signalled it intended to start raising the official cash rate as soon as next month, but since then turmoil in international financial markets has seen economists’ expectations that it will go ahead recede.

The survey found an easing in overall confidence: a net 25 per cent consider it a good time to buy a house, down from a net 27 per cent in the previous survey.

The ASB survey is a tale of two cities.

“The Auckland housing market remains tighter relative to other regions,” ASB chief economist Nick Tuffley said.

Published 18 August 2011
Bob Dey Report
18.8.11

The first 2 properties offered at Bayleys’ commercial auction yesterday were sold on yields below 6% but the auction proved a mixture, with little interest in half the properties.

The highest offer for the day was $2.85 million for just under 60ha between State Highways 1 & 17 immediately south of Silverdale, taken to mortgagee auction by Hong Kong-based lender Asian Syndicate Finance Ltd after Auckland borrower Honk 2 Ltd (Andrew Tauber) defaulted. Hanover Finance Ltd (its loan book acquired in December 2009 by Allied Farmers Investments Ltd) sat behind Asian Syndicate Finance with a $23 million second mortgage [See link below to earlier story].

Not up for auction yesterday, but sold since it was taken to auction on 27 July, was the NZ Sports Complex property on Arrenway Drive, Albany.

Yesterday’s auction brought 4 sales under the hammer & 2 pre-auction. Another 5 properties were passed in and one, at Henderson, was withdrawn from sale. Auction results (plus Arrenway sale):

CBD – Queen St

239 Queen St, unit 2J, 43m² unit on Mid City shopping arcade level one, leased to fashion tenant with final expiry 2015, net rent $39,600/year, sold for $370,000 at a 10.7% yield (Millie Liang)

Isthmus east

Royal Oak Mall, 691 Manukau Rd, unit K, freehold stratum foodcourt, passed on with no bid (Millie Liang)

Isthmus west

Eden Quarter shopping centre, 292E Dominion Rd, 54m² Sharing Shed hairdressing salon,?6-year lease from 2007 with 1×6-year right of renewal, 2.5% rental increase every even year & review to market every odd year, current rent?$37,822/year, sold for $633,000 at a 5.98% yield (Nicolas Ching & Lisa Nielson)

North-east

Albany, 6 Arrenway Drive, 560m² NZ Sports Complex Ltd building on 1847m² site, part-tenanted, returning $41,000/year; ASB Bank Ltd, owed $2 million, appointed receivers to NZ Sports Complex in December 2009 and the company’s main tenant, North Shore Health Sauna, was wound up on 25 May after failing to pay the $80,000 it owed; passed in at $1.15 million at auction on 27 July, sold post-auction for $1.25 million (Mike Adams & Terry Kim)

Albany, 215 Rosedale Rd, unit 4, vacant 475m² warehouse & showroom, passed in (Nicolas Ching)

Silverdale, 1636 State Highway 17, 59.245ha adjoining Northern Motorway, passed in at $2.85 million (Robert Platt)

North-west

Henderson, 192 Universal Drive, unit 6B, 233m², Video Ezy on tenancy to 2015, rent $82,990 + gst/year, passed in at $1 million (Nicolas Ching)

South

Clendon,?439 Roscommon Rd, 2500m² business 5-zoned ex-service station site with about 840m² of buildings, in prime corner position next to Clendon shopping centre, sold pre-auction for $1.75 million or $700/m² (Katie Wu, John Bolton & Shane Snijder)

Howick, 87 Picton St, unit D, 285m² Malaysia Nyonya restaurant, 4-year lease with 4×4-year rights of renewal, rent $41,500 + gst/year, sold pre-auction for $450,000 at a 9.22% yield (Luke Carran, Mark Pittaway)

Manukau, 138 Plunket Drive, unit K, high-stud warehouse, office, dual access, rent $44,000/year to June 2012, passed in (Luke Carran & Peta Laery)

Manukau, 69 Wiri Station Rd, unit A, 92m² Wiri Station bakery & lunchbar, 4-year lease to 2014 with 2×4-year rights of renewal, rent $15,057 + gst/year, sold for $285,000 at a 5.28% yield (Nicolas Ching, Tony Chaudhary & Brice Clark)

Papatoetoe, 370 Great South Rd, 300m² building with 5 tenancies on a 481m² site at?‘School Corner’, a busy intersection at the southern end of Papatoetoe’s retail strip, rent for past year $71,866 + gst, tenants include VIP Curries, an Indian takeaway & restaurant on a 14-year lease expiring in 2020, a Chinese herbal clinic, a beauty therapy clinic, a hair salon and a kava store, sold for $950,000 at a 7.56% yield?(Brice Clark & Tony Chaudhary)

http://www.bdcentral.co.nz/afa.asp?idWebPage=8338&idBobDeyProperty_Articles=16556&SID=453091141

 

Bayleys has released the details of 17 commercial & industrial sales completed in South Auckland, the Waikato & Bay of Plenty.

Bob Dey Report

South

East Tamaki, 443 East Tamaki Drive, 1953m² industrial building on a 4488m² site, purchaser intends to establish a badminton centre in the building, sold vacant for $2.24 million (Mike Houlker, Sunil Bhana, David Gubb, John Bolton & Brice Clark)

Mt Wellington, 3 Rakino Way, 1256m² industrial building on 2203m², on a 4-year lease from August 2010 with 2-yearly rent reviews and 2×2-year right of renewal, 650m² of warehouse space & 605m² of office, sold for $1,688,000 at an 8.6% yield (David Gubb, Stuart Bode, Sunil Bhana & Mike Houlker)

Mt Wellington, 23 Hannigan Drive, 208m² modern industrial unit, 70m² office & 70m² clearspan warehousing plus 68m² mezzanine, sold vacant for $290,000 (James Valintine & Sunil Bhana)

Papakura, 98 Great South Rd, fully leased 623m² retail building on 981m² in the Roselands Shopping Centre, next to a refurbished Countdown supermarket, the property has 5 tenants with United Travel the largest, sold for $1.15 million at a 9.2% yield (Mike Ashton & Peter Migounoff)

Papatoetoe, 6 Grayson Avenue, 810m² vacant warehouse, 1019m² business 5-zoned site with 8 parking spaces, sold for $670,000 (Vivienne Lee, Bayleys Manukau, & Giles Were, Barfoot & Thompson)

Penrose, 293a Church St, 2 standalone tenanted industrial buildings totalling 1187m² on 1826m² site, both have a mix of medium-stud warehousing with office/showroom over 2 levels at the front and are leased to separate tenants on 2- & 3-year leases, sold to one investor for $1.44 million at a 7.7% yield (Mike Houlker & James Hill)

Wiri, 51 Ash Rd, unit 13, 145m² unit with 5 parking spaces, 85m² of office & 60m² of warehouse, sold vacant for $310,000 (Ben Bayley & Brice Clark)

South of the Bombays – Waikato

Cambridge, corner Alpha & Victoria Sts, 425m² 2-level bank building, on 653m² high profile site with off-street parking within the main shopping precinct of Cambridge, occupied by Westpac on 3-year lease from May 2010, with 2×3-year right of renewal, sold at auction for $1.3 million at a 6% yield (Blair Hutcheson)

Hamilton, 190 Collingwood St, 280m² 2-storey 1920s villa configured for business use with 6 offices, boardroom & reception area, on 961m² site on the western fringe of the cbd, sold for $560,000 with vacant possession (Basil Lennan)

Hamilton, Te Rapa, 3 Maui St, 3067m² bulk retail complex on 6930m², with high profile frontage  to Te Rapa Rd (State Highway 1) & Church Rd, occupied by Kitchen House, Tile NZ & Early Settler on varying lease terms, sold for $5.5 million at a 9% yield (Andrew Shaw, Stuart Bode & James Chan)

Mercer, 590 Komeroa Rd, 14.7ha containing private airfield, large aviation hangar, self-catering accommodation block, an office area, utility buildings & 2 homes, sold for $810,000 (David Gubb & Rex Gazzard)

Paeroa, 2 Seymour St, landmark 444m² L&P building on 2546m² site in high-profile position on State Highway 2, 10-year lease to Paeroa Café & Bar Ltd expires October 2013, with 1×10-year right of renewal, sold for $860,000 at an 11.2% yield (Brendon & Lynn Bradley)

Tokoroa, 291-293 Mannering St, 268m² long established medical centre on 402m², 2-year lease to Primary Health Care Ltd until November 2012, with 1×2-year right of renewal, and 2 smaller vacant tenancies, sold for $240,000 at an 11.7% yield (Brendon Bradley)

South of the Bombays – Bay of Plenty

Katikati, 11 Earl Drive, 1013m² vacant single-span warehouse with 6-8 m stud, includes 130m² of office space & staff amenities and security-fenced concrete side yard, sold for $820,000 (Brendon & Lynn Bradley)

Mt Maunganui, 10 Aeropark Way, 1097m² warehouse with 3000kg gantry crane on 2418m², 5-year lease to earthworks & clothing company Clothier Group until August 2015, with 2×3-year right of renewal, sold for $1.23 million at a 9.7% yield (Rob Pinny)

Rotorua, 228 Te Ngae Rd, 730m² high-stud industrial building on 2902m² site, with high profile frontage to State Highway 30, assessed market rent $65,000/year, sold for $705,000 with vacant possession (Mark Rendell & Bill Wilson)

Rotorua, Eastgate Business Park, Te Huaki Crescent, lot 27, 2631m² vacant industrial development site opposite Rotorua’s international airport, sold for $395,000, or $150/m² (Bill Wilson)

Commercial property still remains in demand as the following stats show. There are some startlingly low yields- sub 6%- which means that investors are paying more and more for solid income streams.

Published 14 August 2011
Bob Dey report
Recent Bayleys commercial sales in the west of the region, some in the east and several in the cbd – 15 sales in all:

Isthmus east

Epsom, 589 Manukau Rd, 1012m2 freehold site with resource consent to develop a medical centre, sold to a developer for $930,000 (zero rated for gst), or $919/m2 (Mike Adams)

Newmarket, 35 Broadway, corner Alma St, 296m² site with mixed-use zoning, single-level well maintained villa, sold with vacant possession for $1,148,000 ($3878/m²) to a Hong Kong buyer (James Chan)

Isthmus west

Avondale, 2030 Great North Rd, 200m2 office & showroom on 612m2 site with 14 parking spaces, leased to Urban Clothing Ltd for 3 years from this month with 2 3-year rights of renewal, sold for $745,000 at a 5.4% yield (Henry Thompson)

Avondale, 47 Lansford Crescent, 725m2 modern industrial building on 1181m2, 670m2 of warehousing with 8m stud & 55m2 of undeveloped office space, sold vacant for $820,000 (Chris Upright)

Avondale, 97 Lansford Crescent, 818m2 1970s industrial building on 1322m2, 659m2 of warehousing with 2 roller doors & 159m2 of office space, sold vacant for $820,000 (Chris Upright)

Freemans Bay, 40 College Hill, corner England St, substantially renovated 3-level character bungalow on 358m², dental clinic on ground floor and professional offices above, sold for $1.45 million at 6.8% yield (Henry Thompson)

Grey Lynn, 302 Great North Rd, 1380m2 showroom on 1538m2 site, 12 parking spaces & 2 tenants, sold for $2.45 million at 9% yield (Alan Haydock)

Sandringham, 10 Taylors Rd, 496m² vacant office building on 591m², sold to an owner-occupier for $1.2 million (Scott Kirk & Marianne Murray-Brown)

Learning Quarter

40-42 Eden Crescent, 127m2 first-floor office unit plus 2 parking spaces, sold vacant for $370,000 (John O’Brien)

120 Mayoral Drive, 4939m2 9-storey Duthie Whyte office building, built in the late 1980s on 1172m2 corner site with frontage also to Wakefield & Airedale Sts, 2 basement parking areas containing 61 spaces, fully leased with tenants including AUT, Open Polytechnic, the Methodist Mission & law firm Duthie Whyte, sold for $12 million at a 9.5% yield (Geoff Graham, Bill Fenton & Peta Laery)

North-west

Kumeu, 49-63 Main Rd, 6991m2 retail service-zoned site, retail complex with tenants including real estate company, liquor store & information centre, rent $227,000/year, bought for $3.21 million with a view to further development (John O’Brien)

Kumeu, 86E Main Rd, 64m2 retail unit, 6-year lease to Kumeu Butchery with 2-yearly rent reviews, sold for $280,000 at 6.2% yield (Ranjan Unka &Nicolas Ching)

Westgate Shopping Centre, 153m² unit occupied by Hobsonville Realty Ltd (trading as Harcourts) on a 6-year lease from April 2010 with one 6-year right of renewal, sold for $675,000 at 6.9% yield (Stuart Bode & Henry Thompson)

Kelston, 4085 Great North Rd, unit 8, 500m2 retail unit with 20 parking spaces, 9-year lease to Repco until 2013 with one 6-year right of renewal, sold for $1.42 million at an 11.3% yield (James Chan, Nicolas Ching & Quinn Ngo)

Waterfront

Princes Wharf, Shed 19, CUI, 2-level mixed-use leasehold unit, 1355m2 gross floor area including decks, near entrance to wharf, outgoings $240,145/year, sold for $2.8 million (Michael  Block & Andre Seigert)