Auckland's inner-city apartment prices look to be falling after a failed auction this week left vendors with unsold units and an industry chief astonished at the $3 billion sector's quick reversal of fortunes.
Tuesday, October 25th 2005, 7:47AM
by The Landlord
The bulk auction of inner-city units left agents hugely disappointed with a result that they called appalling.
Martin Dunn, head of apartment realtor City Sales, said only one of the 11 apartments his staff tried to auction on Wednesday had sold and many failed to attract a bid.
Vendors with passed-in units now faced the prospect of discounting prices even further.
"Some of the units are brand new but the vendors are freaked out about the market. They have decided they weren't very wise to buy and are dumping them for less than what they paid," Mr Dunn said.
The failed sales follow a decline in Auckland's rental market. A study by Massey University last month found Auckland one-bedroom unit rents had dropped from $330 a week to $290 a week in the last two years, two-bedrooms from $420 to $372 and all units down from $362 to $340.
