News Friday, October 11, 2013
www.guardianonline.co.nz
■ HOT PROPERTY MARKET
Long wait for rental properties By Sue NewmaN
sue.n@theguardian.co.nz
If you’re new to Ashburton’s rental market you might be in for a long wait for a home. The pool of properties to rent has hit a low ebb, with one letting agent saying she had nothing available. For Di Skilling from McGregors the rent book is empty. The string of properties she manages are all full, but inquiries continue to come
in. For some, the wait for somewhere to live might be a long one, she said. For property managers and their owners, having a choice of tenants is they way they like to see the market; for renters, however, that means they need good references, no dogs and they need to have worked their way to the top of the letting list. While there continues to be strong demand for rentals, Mrs
Skilling said that hasn’t translated into a rent rise rort. Yes, rentals are inching up, but they moving at what agents consider an appropriate rate. If you can find a property to rent in the Ashburton District you can now expect to pay about $320 just to put a roof over your head. Online rental agency Trade Me had 19 three bedroom properties across the district for rent, ranging in price from
$230 to $450. The cheapest three bedder was an older cottage in Methven at $230. On Saturday there were just two property owners looking for tenants in the Guardian with the same number of people looking for somewhere to live. The rental squeeze is not new; at the same time last year, there were no properties available in the Guardian for rent, but there were still renters looking for homes.
Ashburton does its bit to add to market volatility By Sue NewmaN
sue.n@theguardian.co.nz
Ashburton is playing a strong role in ensuring Canterbury continues to vie with Auckland for the dubious honour of having the hottest property market in the country. In the latest Quotable Value statistics for the year to September 30 Auckland continued its stranglehold on price escalation with most parts of the greater city showing double digit percentage increases in value, up to 16.9 per cent in some areas. Ashburton’s growth in sale price over the past year was 8.7 per cent, exceeded only by most areas of Christchurch, Selwyn and the Mackenzie District in the South Island. The average selling price in Ashburton has now hit $306,004, well below the cheapest average in Christchurch, $331,375 in the eastern suburbs. Many parts of New Zealand continue to show very little or negative growth for the year, with the hardest hit Otorohonga with an 18.2 per cent drop in values. Many parts of the South Island also have declining sale prices, with the hardest hit
Sales Agent Karen Groves signs in another potential buyer at an open home. As Ashburton’s property market continues to be marked by high demand and a shortage of listings, the numbers of people turning up at open days is growing. Photo tetsuro MitoMo 101013-tM-029
Gore, with a drop of 3.9 per cent. High demand and short supply was pushing prices up in Auckland and Canterbury Jonno Ingerson, QV research director said and while most of the other main cities and provincial towns were also increasing it was at a more mod-
est rate. Five years ago, the average sale price in the Ashburton District was $260,147. This dropped to $256,905 in 2010 before beginning to climb again. Increases in the average price over the past two years have been 7.7 and 8.7 per cent.
It was still too early to gauge the impact of the loan to value ratio caps the Reserve Bank had applied to slow down rising values, he said. Dunedin is continuing to slow, with values static for the last six months and as a result only 1.8 per cent above last year.
Ashburton Guardian 5
Islands’ names now official By ReBecca Quilliam It has taken several years and cost at least $10,000 for the North and South Islands to officially be named what we’ve been calling them for decades. Yesterday Land Information Minister announced the official names for the country’s two main islands are the North and South Islands or, alternatively, the te reo names Te Ika-a-Maui (north), and Te Waipounamu (south). New Zealand Geographic Board chairman Don Grant said the total cost of recommending those names to the minister could not be quantified “due to the several years that the proposals have been under consideration”. But he said notification and advertising of the proposal this year had cost $6161.37 plus GST for newspaper advertising and the New Zealand Gazette notice. The board also paid two contractors $3012.20 plus GST for helping to process the submissions, Dr Grant said. “The board undertook three months of public consultation on these proposals from AprilJuly this year, with the overwhelming majority of public submitters showing that they wanted the choice to use the English or Maori names. The board received 2608 submissions from 1329 submitters. Of the submissions, 1842 were in support of one or more of the proposals and 766 opposed to one or more. Following Mr Williamson’s announcement, Land Information New Zealand maps and charts that feature the island names will reflect both the English and Maori names. - APNZ
High Court rules Phillipstown school merger ‘unlawful’ By KuRt BayeR A tiny Christchurch school that yesterday won a David vs Goliath legal battle against a government-forced closure hosted a victory party last night. Education Minister Hekia Parata’s decision to close Phillipstown School as part of her $1 billion post-quake city schools shake-up was unlawful, a High Court judge has ruled. Justice John Fogarty said the decision to close the decile 1 Phillipstown school and merge with nearby Woolston to create a 465-child super-school
next January was unlawful. “I conclude that the Minister has, inadvertently, not consulted to the standard required by the law,” he said. The decision was greeted with “tears of joy” yesterday, and the school had planned an impromptu party for last night, which was to include a bagpipe performance. “David won today. Words can’t express how we feel,” says principal Tony Simpson. “We’re thrilled by the judges decision. “We feel totally vindicated. “It’s the culmination of months and months of hard
work by a number of people.” The school received the decision around midday, before sharing it with the board, then staff, and then the parents and community. “There were tears of joy,” said Mr Simpson. The ministry said the school suffered quake damage, and it made sense to merge its small roll of 163 with another small roll. But the school was angry over a perceived lack of consultation, and Justice Fogarty agreed. While the judge was certain the ministry conducted
consultation “in good faith”, it had failed to meet the requirements of the Education Act. Labour’s associate education spokeswoman Megan Woods said the process was “botched from beginning to end”. “[Parata’s] faux consultation narrative and her inherent inability to listen to the community were always going to end in tears.” Ms Parata says she will review carefully the outcome of the judicial review. “We will urgently examine Justice Fogarty’s decision, and our options, including continuing consultation on the is-
sue that was of concern to the court,” she said. Whether the ministry will still pursue the school’s closure is uncertain. But Mr Simpson said his door was open to talks with the minister, as well as enrolments for next year. “We don’t want to be nasty about this,” he said. “We’ve received the outcome from the court - we have legal backing now. “So let’s get on with our core business which is caring for really good children and working hard for their interests.” - APNZ