GulliesPacific

Hi all,

Am I missing something here? I'm looking at the property prices of 1 and 2 bed condos/apartments in the heart of Auckland and they appear to be insanely cheap.

Something like this, for example : http://www.barfoot.co.nz/464241 is probably gonna set you back about £100k with a good exchange rate (when I lived there it was about $3.20 > £1.00! Insane now.

It's a Freehold property and if Freehold means the same in NZ as it does here, that just seems crazy cheap for what looks to be a decent apartment in an amazing location.

Is Auckland over-saturated with apartments, like many places in the UK?

ExKiwilass

According to sister (who was recently apartment hunting there) a lot of buildings are dodgy and you have to be careful. Dodgy as in shoddily built. I checked and I agree..that's crazy cheap. Which makes me suspicious.

Hopefully someone else will come along with more specific advice.

jmh

My mum was saying there is a glut of apartments in the city. Probably not a bad time to buy if you like apartment living but I agree about the risk of dodgy building practice. Would need to check it thoroughly.

From the pics it looks more like a student apartment than an executive apartment. I'm guessing it's a rental income opportunity so I'd want to know what the rental market is like in the inner city.

GulliesPacific

Thanks for the info.

You know, all the apartments I've been looking at, even in higher (without going insane) price brackets, have been similar in their layout etc.

Is this just typical of New Zealand apartments? I used to live in Wiltshire on Victoria and it was a one-bed flat but, like almost everything I'm finding, it was very much open plan. Lounge/Kitchen in one with bedroom.

I think I paid something like $250.00 a month in rent and this is going back ten years ago.

But if I made the move, I'd like to buy. That said, perhaps buying a let would be an idea and then lease a place myself, too?!

Not really worth worring about much at this point - gotta get there first.

Trish M

I'm not surprised it's so cheap. You could probably fit at least 2 of those apartments in my house! I'm only in a two-bed semi!

nero

The details do not tell you how many sq metres you get - I would check this out and then you can compare one flat to another. What heating do you have? Ventilation for the internal bathroom - due to the humidity we have in Auckland that could become a mould pit. THe windows are probably single glazed, depending what floor you are on you could get quite a bit of noise from Queen Street, which can be quite noisy well into the night. Before purchasing I would go and try living in this area - its alot of money to invest if it is rubbish.

We stayed in the Viaduct when we were travelling around and the flat we stayed in was above a bar that had the music pumping out of it until 3am....... just be careful. Sometimes a bargain is not always a bargain. When you walk past a number of these flats the baclonies are packed with boxes and stuff - kind of suggests they are tiny and do not have any storage!

Happy house hunting

jmh

I think some of the high rise apartments are aimed at the Asian market so they may be a bit smaller than your typical kiwi abode. And, as I say students. I gather that they were marketed to professionals as weekday homes for people who own property further out of town but this market has not developed as hoped by developers.

GulliesPacific

Jo, that's very interesting. Thanks. I don't remember any of these buildings having existed when I was there so I really don't have a clue as to what they're like. It's difficult, of course, to judge from a few little pictures.

It's a thought for the future though.

Kiwikaye

Personally, I would look at something like this as a buy to let, not a buy to live-in. Most of these apartments are built with foreign students in mind. The build quality may not be great and you will probably find the square-footage pretty small. Just look at the kitchen facilities for example - the size of the kitchen is generally a good indicator of the overall size and quality of the apartment finish. I used to sell apartments in buildings similar to these in Melbourne, and we used to say that they were worth whatever the buyer paid for them - ie. no/minimal capital gain, but good for income.

JMHO.

Bo-Jangles

They are mostly shoe boxes aimed at asian student accomodation and lots of them do have leaky building problems. The CBD always reminds me of an asian city with all those monstrous high rise apartment blocks so close together.

This site shows you building profiles, apartment sizes and floorplans:

http://highprofiles.co.nz/fpbda-7-99...kland-725.aspx

Justcol

its only 40 sq meters you cant live in that small a space

GulliesPacific

Goodness, you're right. Just done the conversion.... Maybe a good rental, but not a great home.