A proposed 40-unit apartment and conference centre development was passed in for $1.5 million at a mortgagee auction in Wanaka yesterday.
Aspiring Custodians Ltd, proprietor of the 5018sq m site at 121-129 Mt Aspiring Rd, has obtained resource consent for the uncompleted development and contracts are already in place for 26 apartments.
However, the owner has not begun construction and several weeks ago one of three mortgagees, KC Securities Ltd, instructed real estate firm Locations Realty to conduct the mortgagee sale.
Up to 20 people, mostly real estate agents, attended the auction. About five people were interested in, but did not bid on the property, which has a government valuation of about $1.49 million and is held in two titles.
Real estate agent Ross Rainsford said he had received expressions of interest from ‘‘a number of people''.
Mr Rainsford agreed, when asked, that $1.5 million was ‘‘not much'' for land with consented visitor accommodation development rights in Wanaka, where those rights often prove difficult and time-consuming to obtain.
Having the resource consents in place saved people money in holding costs, he said.
There have been reports of a downturn in the apartment market in recent weeks, including fears Queenstown will be ‘‘drowned'' in apartments in the near future.
However Mr Rainsford, who is also the Wanaka spokesman for the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand, felt Wanaka did not have the same number of apartments as its sister-town, which the Otago Daily Times reported last week has more than 250 on the market and more than 1000 coming on stream in the next few years.
He did not see the fears as a reason for not purchasing an apartment in Wanaka.
‘‘Other Wanaka complexes, such as those in Anderson Rd or in Meadowstone, were ‘‘pretty well sold out if not totally sold out and we are now doing on-sales,'' he said.
The Wanaka Lake Resort plans also include a restaurant, pool, gym, sauna and spa facilities.
Aspiring Custodians Ltd is an Auckland company directed by Stephen King, of St Helliers. Two of the three shareholders are Kevin Anderson, of Remuera, Auckland, and John Anderson, of Hamilton.
Wellpark Trustees Ltd, a company associated with Stuart Francis Clarke, of Ponsonby, is the third shareholder.
Auckland company KC Securities Ltd is one of three mortgagees.
The others are Belgrave Finance Ltd and Peek Developments Ltd.
The three mortgages were all registered on January 24 last year.
