5 April 2018 Attn: Paul Radich Development Planner, Te Awa Lakes Development Perry Group Via email:
[email protected] CC:
[email protected] Te Awa Lakes: Housing Economics Dear Paul, This letter aims to provide ongoing assessment in relation to demand for Qualifying Developments, and also comments on local demand for residential housing in the proposed Te Awa Lakes Special Housing Area. Updating RCG’s Housing Commentary We summarise the key points from RCG’s Assessment of Economic Effects report for Te Awa Lakes below. 1 We have updated these points with more recent data where available: • Net migration into New Zealand remains at near-record levels of around 70,000 a year. • Auckland is still not keeping pace with its own housing shortage, i.e. ‘supply’ of new homes is not matching ‘demand’ from population growth. • Auckland is likely to keep losing people to neighbouring regions such as the Waikato, especially when there is housing pressure (as is currently the case). • Auckland’s house price boom began in 2012 and spread to Hamilton by 2015. In both cities, and most other parts of New Zealand, prices have flattened out in 2017-18. • The average house value in Hamilton is now $548,000, compared with $363,000 four years ago. 2 • Building consents in Hamilton, Waikato and Waipa remain at near-record levels, but have plateaued. 1 http://www.hamilton.govt.nz/our-council/council- publications/districtplans/ODP/Documents/Te%20Awa%20Lakes%20Private%20Plan%20Chan ge/Appendix_6_Assessment_of_Economic_Effects.PDF 2 Data from https://www.qv.co.nz/property-trends/residential-house-values , for Feb 2018 compared with Feb 2014 RCG | CONSTRUCTIVE THINKING.