The siblings decided to call time on the 2552sq m site in Upper Riccarton after a recent zoning change made the land and surrounding area an attractive proposition for developers looking to build high-density housing, OneRoof reported.
Harcourts listing agent Sean Innes said the property was part of a larger estate that the family had owned for close to 100 years.
His vendors had built their own homes on the site in the 1970s. They had grown up in the original home on the site that was sold to developers a few years ago and all that remained of the estate were the two houses on the corner of Brake and Leslie streets.
The siblings and their respective partners had bought new homes elsewhere in Christchurch before listing the two homes for sale, Innes told OneRoof.
“Even though the houses are beautiful, the ultimate value was in the land,” he said.
There were seven registered bidders at the auction – mainly developers. The action started with an offer of $1m and quickly escalated more than 20 bids to $4m, when the auction paused for negotiations.
Innes would not reveal the exact sale price but confirmed it was above $4m.
The eventual purchaser was an experienced developer who was exploring his options for the site.
While the high-density zoning rules allowed for up to four-storey apartment buildings to be built on the site, Innes said not many developers were building that high because of the costs involved compared with building a three-storey property, OneRoof reported.
