The Star: September 28, 2023

The Star Thursday September 28 2023
8
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Retirees seek apartments as pad sells
• By Nikki Preston
A SHORTAGE of large singlelevel
apartments in the city drove
downsizers to a rare riverside
apartment, which sold under the
hammer for an impressive $2.1
million.
Real estate agents say plenty
of retirees were looking for large
single-level apartments in or
around the central city, but not
many were for sale.
The third-floor
apartment in
the Riverside
Apartment block
on Carlton Mill
Rd, Merivale,
attracted plenty
of interest at its
open home and
saw a number of
people register
to bid at the auction,
Bayleys listing agent Adam
Heazlewood said.
He said most of the 50 groups
viewing the apartment were
downsizers who were at that
stage in life where they wanted
simplicity.
Many were from the wider
Canterbury area looking to be in
a central location and to travel
more.
Bidding started at $1.386m
and swiftly jumped up with just
two buyers fighting over it. The
auction eventually paused at
$1.99m before coming back on
the market and selling at $2.1m.
Heazlewood said a large
number of apartments
disappeared after the
earthquakes and it became
apparent from marketing the
Riverside Apartment there was a
real shortage.
“A lot of apartments nowadays
are pokey and this is a full-floor
apartment. You do find it, but so
infrequently.”
The advantage of the Riverside
Apartment home was its
exclusivity and privacy given it
was only one of five residences in
the building, he said.
“It’s that lifestyle I guess and
getting a good view in a central
location, not having to look after
the garden and the rest –
it’s great.”
Larger-scale
apartments start from
about $2m, he said, and
can go up to $4m-plus.
He sold one apartment
last year for $4m and
had more coming online
later this year, which he
expected would fetch
even more.
Vivacity salesperson Aaron
Pero said the main buyer group
for apartments was retirees who
Aaron Pero
IMPRESSIVE: A three-bedroom, two-bathroom
residence in Riverside Apartment on Carlton Mill
Rd, Merivale, sold under the hammer for $2.1m.
PHOTOS: NZ HERALD
wanted single-level apartments
with at least two bedrooms and a
car park.
“There’s lots of those
townhouses with stairs,
but as we get older we
obviously want to avoid
stairs and there’s not
many catering to that
market.”
Pero said price wasn’t as
much of a factor for those
buyers as getting what
they wanted.
A one-bedroom apartment
on Armagh St sold for $590,000
to a woman in her 70s after
three bidders competed for it at
auction earlier this month.
The sale price was $50,000
above what it had sold for in
October 2021 at the peak of the
market.
Pero was working with four
buyers, all in the 60-plus age
group, looking for two-bedroom
apartments in the $1m-plus price
range.
He had just listed a two-level
townhouse with a lift in it on
Cranmer Tce that was due to be
completed in the next few weeks
and had a starting price of $3.1m.
However, he said there were
hardly any higher-end singlelevel
apartments for sale.
SCHOOL HOLIDAY
Adam
Heazlewood
20-
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