"It’s a record price for a section,” says Bayleys agent Adam Heazlewood who brokered the deal for the Fendalton Rd property, in Fendalton, which had a 2019 ratings valuation of $3.96m.
He added that while sale details are confidential, he can say that the buyer will be bowling the existing house to re-build, after paying more than twice the $3.4m value of the land to secure the rare site.
It was the location and plot size of over 4000 sq m that drew buyers from around the country and overseas, Heazlewood says, as the sweeping lawn leads down to the river with outstanding views across to Mona Vale Homestead, one of the city’s premier venues.
"Plots this size don’t exist anywhere else, that’s why it warranted a record price. It will be a seriously high-end home."
Heazlewood says that demand for properties over $4m in the city’s top suburbs has been huge.
The size of the Fendalton Rd land attracted a mix of buyers interested in both the whole plot, or just one of the two separate lots - one was 1442 sq m and the other was 2606 sq m.
"Now we’re working on it to find properties for four or five buyers with more than $5m to spend who missed out on this.
"Obviously there aren’t as many as in Auckland,” says Heazlewood.
The previous Fendalton sales record of $6.825m was set in late 2018 for a five-bedroom 1930s house set on a huge 4961 sq m property at Glandovey Rd, also on the river.
The median value of the suburb has grown 5.2 per cent this year to $1.312m - nearly three times the Christchurch median value of $552,000.
Last week a three-bedroom 1940s home on 3240 sq m section, in Ngaio Street, St Martins, just two kilometres from the city centre, sold under the hammer for $2.12m, over three times its 2019 council valuation.
Bayleys agent Tom Gilroy who marketed the "as is, where is" home, on the market for the first time in over 50 years, was selling it with a subdivision development proposal.
At the same auction, Heazlewood and colleague Kurt Findlay sold a two-bedroom 1970s house in Chester Street in the city centre for $1.2m, nearly twice its $629,000 rating valuation.
Another four-bedroom 1920s property Heazlewood marketed on 2157 sq m near Westfield Riccarton fetched $2.3m at auction, nearly $550,000 over its rating valuation.
He says the property's residential suburban zone with an accommodation and community facilities overlay meant the site was "stacked with development potential" particularly since it was close to the University and in zone for Christchurch Girls' and Boy's high schools.
