CVs are fresh off the press—so why is the market already ignoring some of them?

Grab a proper coffee and let’s unpack the 194 residential sales lodged between 1 and 3 July (the first trading days after the new Auckland Super-City valuations hit us on 13 June). I’ve grouped the eye-openers suburb-by-suburb, stacking each price against its brand-new council value (CV) so you can see where the numbers line up—and where they fall apart.

Epsom — premium charm still commands a premium

• 28 Wapiti Ave changed hands at $5.018 m, a +61 % leap over its $3.125 m CV—double-grammar zoning and a flawless renovation beat interest-rate angst every day.

• 7 Gardner Rd settled at $3.9 m, only +7 % above a $3.65 m CV—a sign that even cashed-up buyers will tether their bids if the home needs work.

Take-away: If you’re selling a turnkey villa in Epsom, quote the CV and let market fear of missing out do the rest. Buyers: come unconditionally, or stay home.

Remuera — three deals, three completely different stories

Address	Sold	New CV	Gap
58 Sonia Ave	$2.88 m	$2.00 m	+44 %
3/18 Armadale Rd	$1.208 m	$1.24 m	–3 %
28 John Stokes Tce	$1.56 m	$2.30 m	–32 %

Why the whiplash? Presentation and land size. Sonia Ave is a move-in-today family home; John Stokes is an older house needing capital spend. Buyers here are surgically pricing renovation risk.

Hobsonville — four near-identical townhouses give us a “mini index”

The quartet averaged 2 % below CV, with the widest spread just –3.5 %. Example: 31 Spotted Dove Rd $1.62 m vs $1.675 m CV (–3 %)  and 231 Hobsonville Rd $1.112 m vs $1.10 m (+1 %) .Lesson: In master-planned suburbs where stock is uniform, the new CV is already the price anchor.

Glenbrook — the poster-child for “land banking” premiums

• 18B McLarin Rd: $990 k vs $340 k CV, a +191 % jump. Four bedrooms on a 623 m² site with future subdivision upside turned a lifestyle fringe property into a bidding war. Seller note: Bare or under-capitalised land is where CVs look silliest—buyers price the potential, not the paperwork.

  
  

Auckland Central apartments — two different planets

• Leasehold studio (Customs St West): $220 k vs $1.16 m CV (–81 %). Ground rent keeps hammering values.

• Freehold fringe-CBD units (Victoria St West, not shown) are still flirting with $1 m+ and selling within 4 % of CV. Translation: Check the tenure before you celebrate (or panic) over a headline number.

Mt Wellington — discounts get real or there is a catch

• 10 Young Rd sat 112 days before selling at $731 k, a hefty –38 % vs its $1.175 m CV. Buyers here treat CV as a ceiling, then chip away BECAUSE, see photo:

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What three July days already tell us

Market segment	How buyers treated the new CV	What to do next
Turn-key prestige (Epsom, DGZ, top school zones)	Paid over CV by double-digits.	Sellers: leverage presentation. Buyers: come in unconditional or widen your search radius.
Uniform townhouse stock (Hobsonville, Silverdale)	Hugged CV ±3 %.	Both sides: price right at CV and negotiate the odd fridge or lawn-mower, not $50 k.
Renovation/entry suburbs (Green Bay)	20–40 % under CV.	Sellers: fix the roof before listing; buyers: budget head-room for trades.
Rural lifestyle with subdivide angles	Up to +190 % over CV.	Bank on zoning potential, not pasture. Insist on due diligence for services and titles.
Leasehold apartments	70-80 % under CV.	Only buy if cash-flow offsets rising ground rent.

The bottom line

CVs issued on 13 June are already a reference, not a rule. Within 2 weeks of June sales, the 72 hours of unconditional sales of July trading:

• Buyers paid a +60 % premium for flawless character in the DGZ, where school zones and character charm collide – think Epsom, Westmere, Ponsonby – buyers still stretch well past CV if the home is turnkey-ready.

• Uniform new builds in Hobsonville tracked almost exactly to CV, proving that homogeneous stock tightens price bands.

• Rural Bare land or large sections with future carve-up potential (Glenbrook is Exhibit A) attract premiums regardless of the new rating number.

• Standard family homes in oversupplied suburbs now benchmark off the 13 June CV first, then adjust for condition. Price 5-10 percent above the new CV and expect push-back unless your presentation is flawless.

• Leasehold quirks still blow the CV compass off course—sometimes by triple digits.

  
  

Advice for the next open-home round

• Sellers: Benchmark against very recent settled sales in your street first, then use the CV as a sanity-check—not your price tag.

• Buyers: When a listing quotes “below CV,” ask why. It may be genuine distress…or just a leasehold or something else.

  
  

If your letterbox/inbox delivered a shock-and-awe valuation last month, don’t treat it as gospel. In barely 72 hours of July trading, Aucklanders have already cherry-picked which CVs to respect, which to ignore and which to laugh at.

Need a forensic read on your own suburb? Flick me the address or if you want to sanity-check your own street? Flick me the street name and we’ll run the same side-by-side test over a coffee – the spreadsheets are warmed up and ready.