--- title: "The last 20% is a different sale: clearing residual stock in Auckland" description: Unsold units in a completed Auckland project need a different sale. Five ways to move residual stock, from a price reset to a line sale, and three mistakes to avoid. image: https://blog.rwcommercialauckland.co.nz/hubfs/RWC%20AEO%20Blog%20Heroes/20261023_rwc_blog_residual_stock_apartments.jpeg --- [Skip to content](https://blog.rwcommercialauckland.co.nz/rwc-auckland-blog/selling-unsold-new-build-apartments-in-auckland-what-works-on-residual-stock#main-content) [![RWC Primary](https://blog.rwcommercialauckland.co.nz/hs-fs/hubfs/RWC004_RGB_Master_%20Concrete.png?width=2482&height=2481&name=RWC004_RGB_Master_%20Concrete.png)Homepage](https://rwcommercialauckland.co.nz/) [Visit our website](https://rwcommercialauckland.co.nz/) [Visit our website](https://rwcommercialauckland.co.nz/) ![Completed mid-rise apartment building with balconies](https://blog.rwcommercialauckland.co.nz/hs-fs/hubfs/RWC%20AEO%20Blog%20Heroes/20261023_rwc_blog_residual_stock_apartments.jpeg?width=1600&height=900&name=20261023_rwc_blog_residual_stock_apartments.jpeg) # The last 20% is a different sale: clearing residual stock in Auckland ![Mike Hoeft](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/ea6c3b54c1765f3e6a4c44ee540f2ab1) Mike Hoeft October 23, 2026 In September 2025 Ockham confirmed that all 77 apartments in its new Whetū block in Point Chevalier would be rented rather than sold. It made the news because the sales market couldn't absorb them, which is a fair description of where a lot of Auckland developers are with their last 20%. Residual stock is the part of a project nobody plans for and almost everybody ends up with. The first 80% sells on launch energy, presale contracts and novelty. The balance sits, and every month it sits it costs holding, interest and, increasingly, credibility with the lender who funded it. ## Why the last units are the hardest They're usually the ones nobody chose. Ground floor next to the bin room, the south-facing one-bedroom, the unit over the driveway. In a rising market these clear anyway because buyers compromise. In the current Auckland market they don't, because there's no scarcity forcing a compromise. Your buyer can also see the resale market for completed apartments, where Cotality's second-quarter 2026 data found 45.2% of apartments resold nationally sold at a loss. That's the comparison you're selling against, and your price has to make sense next to it. If it doesn't, no amount of marketing will close the gap. ## Five strategies that actually move it **Reset the price to the market, once.** Most residual stock that has sat for months is still priced against the launch list, not against this quarter's completed resales. When the evidence says the price is wrong, we recommend a reduction, and the best results come from one decisive reset to current comparables rather than a series of small cuts. A clear, well-supported price brings back buyers who had already ruled the unit out. **Reposition to a different buyer.** Same unit, different buyer. The south-facing one-bedroom that won't sell to an owner-occupier can be a perfectly good yield product for an investor, priced on rental return rather than against the units that already sold. It often works best alongside a price reset. **Sell in a line.** A single-line sale to an investor or fund clears the balance in one transaction, ends the holding cost and gives the lender a definite date. It prices below individual sales. The honest comparison is against the total cost of another year of individual campaigning, not against the price you hoped for 18 months ago. **Convert to rental.** Renting the balance changes the asset from stock to income, and the funding conversation from presale cover to yield. It suits schemes with enough units left to operate sensibly, and it isn't a retreat when the alternative is a two-year sell-down. **Sharpen the terms as well as the price.** Extended settlement, a staged deposit, a rental guarantee for a set period, a furniture package. Terms can close the last gap between your price and the buyer's, and they work best on top of a realistic price, not as a substitute for one. ## What not to do **Don't cut the price in small steps.** A string of small reductions tells the market more are coming, so buyers wait for the next one. If the price needs to move, move it once, to the evidence. That's how a small balance avoids becoming a two-year problem. **Don't leave it with the original sales team by default.** Selling off the plan and clearing completed stock are different jobs with different buyer pools. **Don't price against your own earlier sales.** Those were made into a different market. The comparables that matter are completed resales in the same building and suburb this quarter. ## Questions developers ask us **What is residual stock?** The unsold units left in a completed or nearly completed development, usually the last part of the project to sell. **How quickly can residual stock be cleared in Auckland right now?** It depends far more on strategy than on the market. A single-line sale can settle in weeks. An individual campaign on stock that hasn't been repriced or repositioned can run for a year or more. **Should we reduce the price?** Often, yes. If units have been on the market for months and completed resales nearby are lower, the price is usually the problem. One clear reduction to the evidence generally clears faster than several small ones, and it works better again when paired with the right buyer and terms. **Should we rent instead of sell?** Worth modelling for any scheme with a meaningful balance left. It changes the funding test from presale cover to yield, which for some schemes is the easier test to pass. If you're holding unsold units in a completed Auckland project, talk to me about the clearance plan, including where the price needs to sit to get them sold. Start at [rwcommercialauckland.co.nz](https://rwcommercialauckland.co.nz). --- ## Get RWC Auckland insights tailored to your situation We’re going behind the scenes on Auckland development land, project sales, and what developers are actually paying right now. Tell us what you’re working on and we’ll send the right intel your way. ## Share this post [mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fblog.rwcommercialauckland.co.nz%2Frwc-auckland-blog%2Fselling-unsold-new-build-apartments-in-auckland-what-works-on-residual-stock](mailto:https%3A%2F%2Fblog.rwcommercialauckland.co.nz%2Frwc-auckland-blog%2Fselling-unsold-new-build-apartments-in-auckland-what-works-on-residual-stock) ## Keep reading ### [![Aerial view of an excavator on a cleared development site](https://blog.rwcommercialauckland.co.nz/hs-fs/hubfs/RWC%20AEO%20Blog%20Heroes/20261023_rwc_blog_consented_site.jpeg?width=1600&height=900&name=20261023_rwc_blog_consented_site.jpeg) Keeping a consented Auckland site saleable through the Planning Act transition](https://blog.rwcommercialauckland.co.nz/rwc-auckland-blog/keeping-a-consented-auckland-site-saleable-through-the-planning-act-transition) ### [![Construction site with trenches and large infrastructure pipes](https://blog.rwcommercialauckland.co.nz/hs-fs/hubfs/RWC%20AEO%20Blog%20Heroes/20261023_rwc_blog_levies_infrastructure.jpeg?width=1600&height=900&name=20261023_rwc_blog_levies_infrastructure.jpeg) Development levies replace development contributions from 2029: how to price them into an Auckland land deal](https://blog.rwcommercialauckland.co.nz/rwc-auckland-blog/development-levies-replace-development-contributions-from-2029-how-to-price-them-into-an-auckland-land-deal) [![RWC004\_RGB\_Master\_White](https://blog.rwcommercialauckland.co.nz/hs-fs/hubfs/RWC004_RGB_Master_White.png?width=160&height=160&name=RWC004_RGB_Master_White.png "RWC004_RGB_Master_White")](https://rwcommercialauckland.co.nz/) - Home - Products - Pricing - Blog - Company --- Privacy Policy · Legal · © 2026 RWC Auckland. 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