PHOTO: The Block NZ. THREE
Ten years after first appearing on Kiwi TV screens, a townhouse from season three of The Block NZ has sold for $2.867 million, making headlines in the Auckland property market.
Located on Newell Street in Auckland’s Point Chevalier, the sale of the three-bedroom home brought a gross profit of over $1.2 million for Ray White agent Emma Duncan. This significant deal enabled Duncan to purchase a waterfront home just a few blocks away for a little over $3 million.
Duncan, who had fallen in love with the Point Chevalier Road property, needed to sell her townhouse to make the new purchase feasible. She enlisted the help of her mother, Anne Duncan, owner of Ray White’s Mount Albert office, to manage the sale.
The house, located at 26a Newell Street, had been updated with a new swimming pool, decks, and landscaping. “Emma didn’t do an auction because she was still doing due diligence on what she was buying so she wanted to make sure the purchase was there,” Anne Duncan told OneRoof.
Emma Duncan had originally bought the Newell Street home in 2015 for herself and her then-teenage daughter. The property had gained attention due to its poor performance at The Block’s auction finale in November 2014, where contestants Ben and Quinn Alexandre made just $10,000 from the sale. Duncan’s buyer, however, later netted almost $300,000 in gross profit when selling to her.
Over the nine years, Duncan added significant improvements, including a swimming pool, a new deck, and landscaping, but needed a larger house as her household grew.
She discovered her new home through Point Chev Ray White colleagues Lawrence von Sturmer and Jo de Beer, who contacted clients potentially interested in Duncan’s townhouse. Anne Duncan handled the logistics of the sale.
The Point Chev agents showed the townhouse to locals in their database before it officially hit the market. Within a couple of weeks, they had an offer lined up and unconditional, just in time for Emma’s due diligence on her waterfront place to conclude. The deals closed just before Christmas, with moving day set for February.
The house had been updated inside and out, and featured a new swimming pool, decks and landscaping. Photo / Supplied
Emma’s new home, a sprawling 1970s house with its own beach access, had been on the market since early 2024. “I wasn’t even house hunting, I was just looking across the city fringe. I saw this waterfront beachfront property and fell in love straight away,” she told OneRoof.
Duncan emphasized the importance of due diligence, especially with property overlays. Despite the potential for redevelopment, she plans to keep the existing house. “I work really long hours, but now the water is right in my backyard. I can go down for 10 minutes in the morning and have that work-life balance,” she said.
Emma Duncan’s new house sits right above the beach in Point Chevalier. Photo / Supplied
Ray White agent Jo de Beer noted that Point Chevalier locals love upgrading within the area. “Point locals absolutely love living here. They love to upgrade within the area and they don’t tend to leave,” she said.
Point Chevalier holds the record for The Block NZ prices, with townhouses from the 2021 season all breaking the $2 million barrier. One of the neighboring Block houses on Newell Street sold for $3.182 million in 2021.
The Block NZ show is currently on hold, with properties for the 11th season, four townhouses in Auckland’s Browns Bay, still hitting the market. Two have sold, with the remaining two still available.
SOURCE: ONE ROOF