Locations of Leasehold Apartments in Auckland City (CBD)
Apartment Specialists Podcast No: 52
Summary:
Location of leasehold and freehold apartments in Auckland city (CBD).
TRANSCRIPTION:
Good Day, my name is Andrew Murray from the Apartment Specialists. Today I'm talking to you about leasehold apartments.
Now there are over 20,000 apartments in the Auckland Central area and over 3,000 of them are leasehold. So you need to know where they are. As you can see in front of you, there's a map of Auckland. I'm just going to show you exactly where the leasehold land is and where those leasehold land apartments in Auckland city are. One of the reasons why I need to do this webcast, is because nearly every single apartment I sell, I always get asked, is it freehold or is it leasehold? So I thought about educating everybody and showing you exactly where the leasehold apartments are, so you know where to look if you want leasehold or freehold.
First of all, we've got a map of Auckland as you can see here. Now you've got Queen Street right down here - that's obviously New Zealand's main street. You've got Freeman's Bay, Parnell, Spaghetti Junction, where all of the motorways are. You've got the motorway here, which goes to the Harbour Bridge. Then you've your bearings, obviously this is the Auckland CBD. I've split it up into five main areas where there's basically all the leasehold apartments. The first one is where your Maori leasehold land is. That's through Ngati Whatua, which is this land here, which goes down Beach Road, and then along The Strand, and then back down Quay Street.
Now I started with the Maori leasehold land because this is the largest and has over 1,500 apartments just in this area that are leasehold. And there are over 10 different buildings or complexes that are housing those apartments. Going from your Landings, your Scene apartments, your Mirage, etc.
The next biggest is Viaduct Basin. Your Viaduct Basin was actually Ports of Auckland land and got sold in the 90's to Mr. Farmer who represents Viaduct Holdings. So if we move up here, this is where the Viaduct Basin is. Where your leasehold apartments are. As you can see here, you're going passed Lighter Quay apartments now, round here, round the Basin, passed Viaduct Point, up through here. Then obviously here, you've got Princes Wharf. So that's where about 1,100 leasehold apartments are.
And then, number three is you've got Beaumont Quarter. This is where 248 apartments are. Where there's about 12 different types of apartments and they started out being completely leasehold and then there was an option to buy. So some of these are actually freehold but a majority of them are still leasehold. And that goes up here.
The next largest is actually a small little pocket called UniLodge where there's two buildings which is University Student Accommodation and that is right here. That's got 319 apartments.
One that not many people know about is the old Methodist Church land. Although it has sold the lease on to Dave Henderson, and that's up on Queen Street and it's just off Liverpool Street and City Road, so that is right here I've actually drawn over. And this little pocket here. There's about 260 apartments there that are leasehold.
So basically you've got your one, two, three, four, five areas of leasehold land and on that there are commercial buildings and apartments. And that's where you find all the leasehold apartments in the Auckland CBD. So you know if you're looking for leasehold apartments that's where you're going to find them. So hopefully that will help you know where. If it's in this area, obviously it's leasehold. If it's in this area it's obviously freehold, type of thing.
You know what I'd do next though. I thought I'd go over each of these areas individually and point out different buildings. Your Maori leasehold land, your Viaduct Holdings, your Beaumont Quarter etc, in an individual podcast reach, because I think it deserves it. I hope this has helped and if you have any questions around the value of your apartment that sits in this area or the value of apartments that you're looking at, just flick me and email [email protected] or give me a ring anytime.
Talk soon. Cheers.
Steven
Hi What kind of leasehold and bodycorp amounts are you paying on apartments at 30 beach road?
Andrew
Hi Steven,
The body corporate fees on 30 beach road (Scene Three Apartments) which is called the OPEX are approximately around $4-$5000 and the Lease on average is around $10,000. This does change with the size and level the apartment is on. Scene Three apartments are large in comparison to most CBD apartments however.
So on the larger two bedroom apartments you are looking at total outgoings of around $20,000 where a freehold apartment would have around $10,000 and the smaller you are looking around $15,000 where a freehold you would be looking at about $5-7,000 given the facilities and each unit having at least one or two car parks.
The Scene Three apartments are selling way under value in my opinion due to the stigma associated with the initial prices that were paid which were above market value and how owners were mislead in the selling process.
I hope this helps
Andrew Goh
Dear Andrew,
I am thinking of buying a 2 bedrooms freehold apartment in Auckland City.
Target budget is around USD200,000 to USD250,000.
Is it possible?
Appreciate your comments.
Thank and regards
Andrew Goh
Singapore
Handphone : +65 97527073
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Auckland Central 2 bedroom freehold apartments do sell in that range but you would be looking at apartments below 45m2 in most cases. This means it comes down to if it is for an investment or for you to live in as these apartments are generally in buildings which are mainly tenanted and are not often the best apartments to live in.
What is the purpose of your Auckland apartment purchase?
Rob
Hi Andrew,
I am in the UK and my partner and I plan on returning to NZ to live (both kiwis). We would like to buy an apartment but wondered whether you could provide some information. In London we have a leasehold 2 bed place with at 118yr lease. Ground rents 200GBP. No problems here with the leashold, if we have issues we go to the well established freeholder-leaseholder tribunals. Want to build or do something extra to the place, easy, freeholder must have just cause. Ground rent goes up by an inflation figure and if we want we can go enfranchisement court and buy out the freehold. we wont cause there is no benefit. Freehold properties and leasehold properties are similarly priced. When we want to extend our lease we pay 10-15k GBP for another 60years. I assume the situation in the akl leasehold appartment is not quite aligned from what i am reading….is there an asset management firm or private equity firm a beneficial owner of the leases ? any info gratefully received. Rob
Andrew
No problem Rob,
Auckland leasehold apartment land owners in New Zealand are yes private in most cases ie not the state and in these cases inflation is not the measure of how the lease increases. It is done on a percentage of the land value which is generally between 5 and 7%.
This is why leasehold apartments in Auckland are so much cheaper than freehold apartments because the outgoings are so much more.
Ie a million dollar freehold apartment would have outgoings of $12,000 where the same apartment that is freehold would have outgoings of about $20,000 and this figure will increase every 7 years.
The benefit is the price would be anywhere from 1/2 to 1/3 of the price.
So leasehold in New Zealand is great value but only if it suits your aim which is lifestyle or to use your money in other places ie somewhere it can make more money like a business but still have the lifestyle or to enjoy life….ie holidays etc
So many New Zealanders are cash poor yet asset rich – ie their house is worth millions but they don’t have much cash to enjoy life as they get older and leasehold is a great solution to that.
So while looking at Auckland leasehold apartments you need to first work out what your objective is and then match it with the type of property or apartment purchase.
claire Hunt
Hi Andrew have been listening to some of your pod casts. I have an appartment 5 F at 8 Scotia Place that I want to sell, do you sell appartments?
Andrew
Hi Claire no problem. I look forward to working for you 🙂
Andrew Nicholson
Hi Andrew,
Hoping you could answer any of these questions regarding leasehold apartments.
Firstly, are banks/lenders ok with lending money to purchase a leasehold apartment in Auckland? Aare the leasehold apartments a long-term lease and if so how long is it or do some of them work under a periodic term? What generally happens after the lease term or if you wanted to sell, could you use your own realtor or do you have to use their appointed one? What are the tenants responsible for in terms of annual costs besides the annual ground level cost? Ie, insurance, council rates and maintenance levy or Body Corp levy? Lastly, what do the actual annual ground level costs actually covering?
Thank you in advance.
Andrew
Andrew
No Problem Andrew, Leasehold Apartments in Auckland are fine with all the banks but in most cases you will need a 50% deposit (or Equity).
A few banks will go to 70% but that depends on their position on the building and the bank but if you stick with 50% on Leasehold Apartments in Auckland that’s the most common bank stance.
Now each leasehold apartment complex is on different land and the lease period is specific to that land. So it’s all different. Some are on perpetual leases, while others could only have 30 or so years left.
Now what happens after the term lease can vary. Perpetual means it is essentially endless however others it is all dependent on the land owner and the lease. Some will offer Leasehold Apartment owners the right to buy ie turn into freehold and others will want the land back. So it is very land owner and lease specific.
When it comes to selling you can use any realtor you want and with the tenants they generally pay the rent and the owner the lease, maintenance fees and rates. I have seen other arrangement though.
And finally your last question the annual ground rent just covers the use of the land and air space in nearly all cases.
Sorry for the late reply. For some reason your question went into spam.
If you have any more questions on Leasehold Apartments in Auckland just let me know.
Sophie
Hi Andrew,
I’m looking for 3 bedroom apartment thats freehold (any of scene apartment).
could you please tell me the price range and if any is available at present?