APARTMENT LIVING

AN APARTMENT TO CALL HOME

While some property experts suggested that Auckland’s apartment market was softening, Barfoot and Thompson’s number one agent for sales for this financial year (YTD) has found the market rebounding well.

Aaron Cook of Barfoot and Thompson’s city office is the country’s number one agent for sales over the first four months of the 2020 financial year. Ryan Harding of the Ponsonby Barfoot office is having a similar experience, noting that while days to sell may be longer, prices are holding strong. Rather than dropping post lock down, interest in apartments has remained steady and is a testament to the quality and style of apartment developments around Ponsonby and the city.

While some people might be fleeing the central areas for lifestyle blocks and suburbs outside the main centres since Covid-19, the style and quality of apartments listed around the Ponsonby area maintain consistent demand. Sarah Peterken, the marketing manager for Barfoot and Thompson had not long moved into her Grey Lynn apartment prior to lockdown and enthuses that there is much to love about modern apartment living. “I love being so close to everything. I can be at work in the heart of the city in 15 minutes or can stroll down the road to my favourite cafe or shops in moments.”

Pool in the Antipodean Apartments, Beach Road, Barfoot and Thompson, City

We asked Sarah if being in an apartment during lockdown was a struggle and whether she missed the sense of community that is often associated with the leafy avenues of Ponsonby and Grey Lynn. “It was fine, really. Living close meant we could stay connected, talking on our balconies, yet still maintaining some physical distance. Everyone in the building is quite like-minded, considerate, friendly with similar values,” says Sarah.

This is of course, part of the secret. It isn’t buildings, as such that create community, it’s people, and well designed apartment buildings allow people to build community. As Ryan Harding explains, “the people who buy apartments in Ponsonby and Grey Lynn want a sense of community and so that’s what naturally develops.”

For Sarah having a close friend in the same apartment complex was a bonus. “During lockdown my close friend, who lives across the hallway, became part of my bubble. Taking walks together and sharing meals meant lockdown in the apartment wasn’t isolating. In fact it was really nice,” says Sarah.

Ryan explains that the design and build of apartments like Crest, which Ryan successfully marketed for Barfoot and Thompson with colleague Matt O’Rourke, and North, which they are currently marketing for the same developer, are high-end, in terms of their build quality and specifications. They are positioned to offer maximum views to easily make up for any lack of back yard. “They attract buyers who want homes, not merely investments,” explains Ryan. “These are properties people want to own and live in.”

With prices typically between $1.4 to 3 million this isn’t easily affordable real estate, but most developments include homes that are at entry level prices as part of the project. This means they aren’t all out of the reach of first home-buyers or single person purchasers. “Around five of the Crest apartments were set aside for first home

Proxima Residences, Barfoot and Thompson, City www.proximaresidences.co.nz

buyers, so people could secure a 50 - 70 square meter home with the same high quality fit out as the 2.5 million dollar home with the better aspect for around $600,000,” said Ryan.

High end apartments are also seeing consistent demand. “We’ve sold 12 properties in the last 6 weeks, which is huge,” explains Aaron. “The lock-and-leave lifestyle of apartment living is truly coming of age and developers continue to find strong markets for really well thought out properties. While Aaron concedes that apartment sales might not always have the same intensity as a great villa in the leafy suburbs, the appeal of apartments as a lifestyle choice is one that continues to gain popularity.

A great example of this is Aaron’s recent sales of the Antipodean apartments on Beach Road. These meticulously designed freehold apartments have been developed with particular attention to detail and built to last the ages. They offer all the marvel and wonder the city has to offer with security, freedom and luxuriously appointed spaces. As Ryan pointed out with the Ponsonby and Grey Lynn apartments, these aren’t merely investments, but homes people want to live in.

On the city fringe another successful but still affordable development is Proxima Residences. This new development, on the doorsteps of Ponsonby, is only two sales away from their pre-sale target. “Prices have gone up since they first went on the market but they are still very competitive for the quality and the location,” explains Aaron, who believes the prices of the Proxima Residences are likely to go up again once construction begins in the coming months. “There is one three bedroom sub penthouse left and just a couple of north facing 2 bedroom units to go,” reveals Aaron, “so there’s still a chance for people to secure one before the building starts.”

A peep into the future of Blake Street”

Right in the heart of Ponsonby, ‘The Blake’ is a boutique collection of 11 residences located at 3-5 Blake Street. According to Greer Stephens of Oslo Group, these apartments reflect the kind of spaces people want to live their lives in. “The exterior represents ‘enclosed modern architecture’ while interiors are informed by the elegance of Scandinavian design. It’s a development that reflects the vibrancy and dynamic nature of Ponsonby and the people who live and work there,” explains Greer. As one of the newest projects in the area we asked Greer how he expected sales to go in the post lockdown environment. “People still want to reside in Ponsonby and as people’s lives change, apartment living is increasingly a way people want to live. The design of these new apartments allow people the space and flexibility to work from home while being close to downtown offices when needed.”

A home office set up is the one thing Sarah Peterken will be adding to her new home in Crest. “I have a great office nook space in my bedroom that will be perfect for a home office, giving me the scope to work more from home when I need to and have Zoom meetings,” says Sarah. All she needs to do is find the perfect home office furniture to fit the classic lux style she created throughout the apartment so far.  PN

www.barfoot.co.nz/projects/sold-projects/north-apartments www.oslogroup.co.nz

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These last few months have certainly been tough for all of us. We have all had to take time out to reflect on our lives and remind ourselves of what is most important.

For some, turning to outdoor zones to improve their quality of life has been a real focus, so if you have found yourself contemplating how to transform your yard, balcony, deck or courtyard into a green retreat, then you are not alone.

Green space transformation has become a worldwide trend that has sky rocketed these past months as people turn to their empty indoor and outdoor spaces to ignite their green thumbs in an attempt to find peace, calm, and solace in these uncertain times. New Zealand is no different, with many suppliers in our horticultural industry reporting huge surges in demand post lockdown.

City Botanics have always believed that gardens can heal and that everyone should have the opportunity to incorporate nature into their daily lives regardless of their living space or how green their thumbs. For City Botanics owner Martin Steel-Brown, he makes it his business mission to help as many people as possible to connect with nature in their urban environments.

“During lockdown, we stayed connected with our customers and it brought us immense joy to hear how grateful they were for recently transforming their garden space and how they were using it everyday to relax and disconnect from life in lockdown. That is why we keep doing what we do. It drives us every day.”

Creating your own green space is not limited to those with large backyards either. City Botanics focuses on connecting with clients who live in apartments and townhouses that are struggling to design the perfect space in their small living quarters, and their customers could not be happier.

“I am absolutely blown away how City Botanics managed to create a whole new and beautiful balcony space in such a small amount of room. It feels like it’s added another room to my one-bedroom house” - S. Bagnall, Auckland.

So while we continue to explore our own national backyards through domestic travel, amateur and expert gardeners are turning their own backyards into stay-cation hotspots to relax and reflect. In a world of chaos and uncertainty, tuning into nature has never felt so rewarding.

CITY BOTANICS, M: 027 215 7884, www.citybotanics.co.nz @citybotanics #citybotanics