Duke & Cooke Property News
Property News from the Nelson Tasman Region

Published on: 18th January 2009

LONG WAIT FOR ‘FANTASTIC’ BUILDING
LOW-COST HOUSING PROVIDER INUNDATED WITH INQUIRIES
NEW SPARKLE FADES FOR UPMARKET NELSON BAR
HOMES MORE AFFORDABLE
NELSON BUILDERS ARE BRACING FOR AN UNPREDICTABLE Y
PROPERTY WATCH
Thought for the week

LONG WAIT FOR ‘FANTASTIC’ BUILDING

It’s taken 20 years but the wait is now over for the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology, which finally blessed its new $7.5 million Tourism and Hospitality block at dawn today. The brand new 2000sq m building was blessed by Archdeacon Harvey Whakaruru at a service attended by 60 polytechnic staff and students, local Maori, architects, contractors and community members. A restaurant, several kitchens, a café and a barista training area make up part of the hospitality learning space. A full hairdressing salon, a beauty therapy area, a lecture theatre and learning spaces have also been included in the block, which will be full of students by mid-February. The new building is the first step towards a campus redevelopment plan that also includes an Art and Media Centre, which was granted $8.132 million from the Government last year. The three-storey building will be next to the Tourism and Hospitality building in Nile St and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2010.

The Nelson Mail, Monday 19 January 2009
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LOW-COST HOUSING PROVIDER INUNDATED WITH INQUIRIES

A Christchurch accommodation provider who bought the former Franklyn Hall nurses’ home in Nelson’s Waimea Rd for $1.5 million says she’s been inundated with people inquiring about living there. Liz Harris bought the building in a mortgagee sale, and arrived in Nelson late last week to get it finished and operational as a medium- to long-term accommodation complex. A company called Queenstown Alpine Ltd bought the building for $3 million in 2005 and had plan to develop a 160-bed hotel and accommodation complex employing 30 to 40 staff. It has since gone into liquidation. Accommodation prices are expected to range from $120 a week for a basic room to about $170 a week for an ensuite room and about $250 a week for a one-bedroom apartment. This includes power, central heating and the use of common-area facilities such as Sky television.

The Nelson Mail, Tuesday 20 January 2009
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NEW SPARKLE FADES FOR UPMARKET NELSON BAR

One of Nelson’s newest bars has been placed into receivership. Sapphire Cocktail Lounge in Church St, which opened less than a year ago with ambitions of becoming an “international” establishment, closed its doors before Christmas and is now in the hands of receiver, Auckland accountant Glenn Walker.

The Nelson Mail, Wednesday 21 January 2009
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HOMES MORE AFFORDABLE

But still beyond first-home buyers
The Nelson-Marlborough region recorded the biggest increase in home affordability in the country for December, after median house prices fell 11 per cent. However, despite houses being the most affordable in the region since June 2005, house prices in the lower quarter of the market are still out of reach for first-home buyers on one median income, even with a 10 per cent deposit. However, a couple with more than one income may find the price affordable. This is the conclusion of the December home loan affordability report from financial information website www.interest.co.nz, which puts the increase in affordability down to the housing market slump and the fall in fixed mortgage rates. In the Nelson Marlborough region, it now takes 60.1 per cent of one median income in the 25-29 age group to buy a house, down from 64.0 per cent in November and 89.9 per cent last February.

The Nelson Mail, Thursday 22 January 2009
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NELSON BUILDERS ARE BRACING FOR AN UNPREDICTABLE Y

With the building boom well and truly over, builders throughout the Nelson region are bracing themselves for an unpredictable year. Although most builders and building companies the Nelson Mail spoke to said they were currently busy, many were looking to the future with a “let’s just keep an eye on it” attitude, said the vice-president of the regional Registered Master Builders branch, Colin Kennedy. In Nelson city, 264 consents for residential homes, units or baches were issued during 2008, a decrease from the 326 issued during 2007. The total was higher than in 2006, when 234 consents were issued, and 2005, when 205 consents were issued. For Tasman district, the number of consents issued during 2008 was 300, up on the 259 issued in 2007.

The Nelson Mail, Saturday 24 January 2009
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PROPERTY WATCH

Bach in mortgagee sale
A two-bedroom bach at Torrent Bay that was purchased in December 2003 for $715,000 has been sold in a mortgagee sale handled by Professionals Nelson principal Aaron McCrae. Mr McCrae took the 0.1441-hectare property to tender late last year, and said it attracted strong interest from buyers in the United States, Australia, England and throughout New Zealand. “We got a good amount of tenders.” The sale was negotiated following the tender process. Mr McCrae said the buyers were local, but he declined to reveal the sale price or whether it was above GV. Quotable Value records show that the property used to be owned by Mathew and Chris Lewis. Its GV recently dropped from $810,000 to $730,000, according to the Tasman District Council’s rates database.

Section shortage tipped
Richmond is well placed to handle a predicted housing shortage while Nelson appears to be heading towards a lack of sections, according to research conducted by Duke and Cooke residential specialist Barry Rowe. Data he gathered shows that the Nelson City Council issued 232 building consents to the end of October last year, while the Tasman District Council issued 53. Richmond had 75 sections available late last year and another 129 due to come on stream in the following 12 to 24 months, he said. Nelson, Atawhai and Stoke had 95 available for sale, with another 81 coming on stream. “As a consequence, fewer homes will be built in Nelson and a greater number constructed in Richmond, as this is where sections are available.”

Furniture store moving
Christchurch-based furniture manufacturer and importer DA Lewis is planning to shift out of its store in Croucher St, Richmond to bigger premises. General manager Mark Lewis said the lease was running out and the site wasn’t big enough to properly showcase the company’s range. It was in negotiations to secure a new store that would probably be “at least double” the size of the current one, he said

The Nelson Mail, Saturday 24 January 2009
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Thought for the week

“At graduation time, millions of graduates go out to seek their fortunes, while millions of parents try to rebuild their own.”

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This publication is compiled by Duke & Cooke Ltd, valuation and property specialists. The information contained within this newssheet has been obtained from various local sources and no responsibility is held for any parties relying on the accuracy of this information without obtaining independent verification.

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