- Property traders showed strong interest in a 1960s Hamilton rental, with 16 offers in five days.
- The two-bedroom home on Casper Street attracted traders due to its potential for value addition.
- First-home buyers and flippers are competing for properties. at the bottom end of the city's market
Property traders went crazy for a tired 1960s rental in a relatively average part of Hamilton, with the property attracting 16 offers in just five days.
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Red Bricks Real Estate director Rupert Bain said interest in the two-bedroom, freehold property on Casper Street, in Fairfield, started as soon as the listing went live.
“Within two hours of the listing being online, I probably had about eight people reach out to me.”
Bain said the house ticked all the boxes for property traders; not only did it have good bones, but there was also potential to add a third bedroom within the existing footprint.
The ex-rental property on Casper Street needed a new kitchen and bathroom. Photo / Supplied
“Anything like that, with a value add, they are all over it,” he told OneRoof, noting that six of the 16 offers he received were unconditional.
Bain said property traders – both seasoned and new - were back in the market and ready to compete for the right type of property, which tended to be the ugliest, or dirtiest, something other buyers wouldn’t or couldn't touch.
“You are seeing a push on social media for property apprentice-type catch-ups, where they do the course on how to make money on property.”
The fall in interest rates and the uptick in certain market segments were also having an impact. “You can’t buy a flip and make it brand new with fittings and fixtures if the market is going down.”
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Bain said market feedback pushed the price indication for Casper Street from better than $500,000 to better than $550,000. He was unable to reveal the exact sale price, but confirmed it was significantly above the initial price indication, although below the RV of $770,000.
He said his vendor had opted for the highest offer, even though it was conditional.
Ray White Hamilton director Mark Keesom has also noticed an increase in flippers in the market, from one in 30 buyers to about 10 in 30.
Keesom said they were all looking for properties that needed a lot of work, in the $500,000 to $650,000 price range. The aim would be to renovate it and resell it to a first-home buyer for $600,000-$750,000.
“It’s the houses that are probably a little bit rougher around the edges.”
Also attracting trader interest is 6 Dickens Place, Leamington, Cambridge, which goes to auction on June 17. Photo / Supplied
He noted that traders had shown interest in a 1970s three-bedroom brick home at 6 Dickens Place, in Leamington, Cambridge, which Ray White agents Brooke May and Violet Tangaroa are taking to auction on June 17.
LJ Hooker Hamilton managing director Aaron Davey said entry-level properties in the region were also attracting interest from first-time buyers and investors. “That end of the market would be the busiest.”
Davey said he recently sold a three-bedroom home on Store Road, in Whatawhata, and another on Daisy Street, in Claudelands, both of which attracted strong buyer interest.
184 Clyde Street, in Hamilton East, Hamilton, has an asking price of $589,000. Photo / Supplied
Davey said first-home buyers seemed to be willing to pay more than flippers because they were more focused on getting onto the property ladder rather than making a quick profit. “They can do the work as they see fit and over time,” he said.
Lodge managing director Jeremy O’Rourke said there were numerous examples of properties attracting more than a dozen offers.
“They are not all from flippers, but the part of the market they are working in is the same as first-home buyers and a lot of investors.”
An example of this is a four-bedroom do-up at 184 Clyde Street, in Hamilton East, which Lodge agent Glenn Collins is selling for $579,000.
O’Rourke said some first-home buyers just wanted it all done for them, but there has also been a nice resurgence in first-home buyers prepared to put in the hard work and elbow grease to do up the property.
“There’s a ready market for the property that’s been done, but equally there’s a ready market for the property that hasn’t.”
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