Inside the $6m home that convinced a couple to abandon their build

A couple have paid close to $6 million for a new family home in an apparent bid to avoid their own construction project.

The pair, from Canterbury in New Zealand, splashed out NZ$7 million ($5.8 million) on a Japanese-style four-bedroom luxury home in Christchurch, according to OneRoof.

The new O’Neil +Shirley Architecture and Davinia Sutton-designed home took almost three years to build, with the sellers only living in the house for less than a year before deciding to move on.

Harcourts agent Alison Aitken said the buyers had been planning to build a retirement property when they inspected the Holmwood Road residence.

“I think the people who look at this think ‘Why would I go through the building pain when I can buy something?’” Aitken told OneRoof.

“These people who ended up buying clearly loved it and everything my owners had done.”

The couple bought the property at auction after outbidding two others.

They are not the first to radically reconsider their options to avoid property stress.

Late last month, a house hunter paid more than $4 million for a spare home in Western Australia rather than subject themselves to regular rental inspections.

They purchased the four-bedroom, three-bathroom trophy home in City Beach ahead of auction, according to the Australian Financial Review.

The residence, which is spread across three levels with panoramic ocean views, had been on the market for 22 days before it was snapped up for $4.6 million.