An abandoned and filthy house in west Auckland has sold for a whopping $675,500 - much to the surprise of several Kiwis.
The three-bedroom, two-bathroom house in Ranui went under the hammer in a forced sale and is now in the hands of the auction winner to make their renovation dreams come true.
A video shared to TikTok by real estate agent Kristina Walsh shows the grimy exterior and squalid interior of the abandoned house, disgusting several social media users.
Graffiti covers several walls in the house, along with large areas of dark mould creeping out from beneath the carpet and wallpaper.
The kitchen counter can be seen hiding beneath a blanket of what appears to be dead insects, and piles of old food sits in the pantry - including faded cereal boxes and a KFC bucket.
Piles of rubbish, filthy clothes, and bedding can be seen scrunched into corners of rooms along with broken items of furniture. Stained pillows, an old teddy bear and ripped down curtains remain inside one of the brown-stained carpeted bedrooms.
Walsh told Newshub she believes there are a couple of factors as to why the property sold for the amount it did.
"The market has definitely changed," she acknowledged. "We have passed the bottom of the market and investors and developers are definitely far more active now than they were six months ago."
"This property was also out of the flood-affected area that was in the Luanda Drive and Urlich Road area of Ranui, at the beginning of this year," she explained.
Walsh described it as a "property that's proven itself in those events".
She said Ray White aimed to create "as much competition as possible" in their campaign and marketing to get the best result for the vendors.
"This is one of those properties that was impossible to price, so auction is the best way to sell," she said. "The results speak for themselves."
She believes social media is "a great platform" for advertising when it comes to real estate.
"People don't want to see the same old cookie-cutter approach to selling houses anymore," she said. "They want to see real, raw, honest content."
"Kiwis love a good do up and they also love to comment on houses that are in the condition this one was in," she said.
The video, which has almost 130,000 views, "went absolutely crazy" according to Walsh.
TikTok users took to the comments, with several expressing repulsion.
"This is actually so sad, what absolute pigs to do that," one woman said.
One person said it would need an entire renovation and not just "a clean".
"That's not a do up, it's a knock down and rebuild!" another added.
"Love the way you quickly scanned passed that giant patch of black mould," one user commented.
"$2.50 take it or leave it," one person joked.
Others thought the price could reach well beyond that of $675,500.
"Should go for about $4m, New Zealand things," one woman said.
"Probably will sell at over a million, this is what makes our country great," someone added.
"Fully furnished I see, are the clothes etc included as well?" one person asked.
When the sale price was revealed to her TikTok audience, several Kiwis were stunned with the outcome.
"Wow that went for more than I thought," one person said.
One woman described it as "unlikable, mouldy and leaky," and laughed at the outcome.
"Well done on the great market reaction and strong bidding!" one person congratulated.
Walsh described the comments as "truly entertaining," and believed it helped with the "phenomenal" turnout of more than 20 registered bidders on the day.
