$10,000 loss as Christchurch cone home feels resale pain

A cleverly renovated cone-shaped home, which was given an award-winning makeover to bring it into the 21st century, has sold for the second time in just over a year but for slightly less.

The 1970s home on Westburn Tce in Ilam sold for $1.3 million – just below the $1.31m the previous owners picked it up for at auction in September last year.

• Cone home on the market again

The property was put back on the market at the end of September due to a change in circumstances.

The three-bedroom, two-bathroom home passed in at auction in mid-October but sold a few weeks later at a fixed price.

Harcourts Gold listing agent Cameron Bailey, who marketed the home for the second time with Charlie Horncastle, said it was a good price and showed that good properties in good locations still hold their value.

Bailey, who had earlier described it as an “uber cool” home, said a mix of buyers had been looking at the property including families, executives and downsizers. He could not reveal who the new owners were.

The property underwent a sympathetic 14-month renovation by the previous owner, Angelique Armstrong, a well-known Christchurch interior designer.

Armstrong picked up the home for $461,000 in 2017 for herself, and her hard work scored the home an award for the best renovation project in the 2021 TIDA NZ Renovation of the Year Awards as well as a near-$1m price bump when she sold last year.

It comes as family homes in Ilam continue to net surprising prices at auction.

A three-bedroom, one-bathroom home on an impressive 1315sqm section, also on Westburn Terrace, sold under the hammer for $1.46m earlier this month with five people competing for it.

Bailey, who sold the home with colleague Catherine Aitken, said the recently renovated home on a large section was bought by a family.

“It’s just one of those areas where you are getting great value for money. You are getting a location that is still really close to town, it’s got some cool houses in there – there’s a mixture of character houses and some mid-century houses.”

Harcourts Grenadier listing agent Andrew Steel also sold a four-bedroom, two-bathroom brick home in Ilam that netted the owners $252,000 more than they had expected.

The Coniston Ave home attracted plenty of attention as soon as it hit the market and within days the owners accepted an offer of $950,000, bringing the auction forward. There were six bidders in the auction room last week and the property eventually sold under the hammer for $1.202m.

Steel earlier told OneRoof that well-presented properties in good areas tended to always be in demand and that people liked Ilam because it was close to the university.

By Nikki Preston
OneRoof.co.nz