A former market garden with a 1920s brick and tile home and overgrown glasshouses in Mangere sold at auction this week for $4.7 million - almost $3.5m over its council valuation.
Twenty-two groups registered to bid on the flat, sunny 1.163 hectare Favona site at auction - and most were developers looking to make a pretty penny.
The large site has space for 25 houses, which could rise to 35 under proposed Unitary Plan changes.
With a median value of $622,000 per home the value of the site would be upward of $21m - not taking into account build or development costs.
Harcourts agent Pauline Anderson said the sale price was outstanding but added that land for quality developments in South Auckland was scarce and hotly in demand.
"Almost all the interest was from developers, from well-known ones to the ... mum and dad type," Anderson said. "The winning bid was from a local developer."
Property values in Favona had skyrocketed, with recent figures from QV showing the suburb's average home selling for 36 per cent above CV. New figures show the average house value in nearby Mangere Bridge is a little more than $900,000. The average Mangere Bridge home is selling for 27 per cent over CV.
"The ... Mangere and Mangere East area has changed very quickly and this particularly piece of land is quite special," Anderson said.
The property has been owned by the same family for 62 years and was sold because the elderly father had passed away.
The land is zoned main residential under the current district plan which allows a density of one household unit per 300m2, for sites greater than 1000m2.
Under proposed Unitary Plan changes the land would become mixed housing suburban offering the opportunity to develop to a density of 200sq m, with consents and planning approvals.