Christchurch auctions prove there is hope for residents

Auctioneer’s Chris Kennedy, Phil McGoldrick and Roger Dawson of Harcourts have done well for Christchurch homeowners with 76% of all properties auctioned sold this week.

Thirteen out of the seventeen properties put up for auction were sold under the hammer and although it has been uncertain times for homeowners, there are buyers out there looking for all types of properties.

“On Wednesday and Thursday this week we saw multiple bidders, strong competition from bidders and prices reaching over and above the set reserve price,” said Auctioneer Roger Dawson.

“It is amazing that some of these properties have complications with liquefaction, cladding and cracks, but the interest is still there.”

The auctioned properties were from areas all over Christchurch but the worst affected areas in the west of the city still seemed to do well.

“There was one brick and tile property that had no bricks on it at all, only plywood cladding and it generated a lot of interest,” said Roger Dawson.

“That west side property had an earthquake claim payout approved against it which was carried over to the buyer upon purchase. Given all its faults, the bidders saw past the surface damage with a vision of starting from scratch so this property was sold. What a great outcome for the sellers as now they can move on and start again.”

“This positivity and vision of better homes, a better city and a better future by this wave of buyers, does give us all hope. It clarifies what we need to do – get on with it.”

Harcourts NZ CEO Hayden Duncan says Christchurch Sales Consultants have listed some 59 properties and negotiated 39 conditional contracts all occurring after the large Monday aftershock.

“The teams in Christchurch are receiving a lot of enquiry about properties and there is a shortage of properties in some price ranges and areas. We encourage people, at the very least, to enquiry because as we’ve experienced this week, there are options.”

“We will be doing our best to keep the momentum going for sellers and potential buyers to get the result they need. We want them to believe they don’t have to undersell their property because of its damage just to move on,” affirms Harcourts Auctioneer Roger Dawson.

Roger Dawson is part of the Harcourts Christchurch City Branch.