According to the latest Mercer Worldwide Cost of Living Survey Auckland is ranked 118 – roughly in the middle of 214 cities that have measured for the comparative cost of over 200 items including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

Wellington has been ranked as being slightly cheaper at 136.

Both New Zealand cities have become more expensive to live in since last year’s survey when Auckland was ranked 149 and Wellington was 163.

However, the good news is New Zealand is still considered to be amongst the most affordable and appealing cities in Asia Pacific. It’s also still cheaper than than cities like Sydney, which was ranked the 14th most expensive and Melbourne which was 21.

The survey is designed to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees.

Sarah Barnaby, Senior Associate in Mercer’s information product solutions business in New Zealand, said rising costs, due to currency fluctuations and natural disasters have presented challenges for multi-national organisations managing workforces in New Zealand.

But, she said that didn’t diminish the appeal of New Zealand in the eyes of expatriates or their employers.

“Despite a rise in the cost of living, New Zealand remains a highly competitive location for international employers with rankings far below those of other cities in Asia Pacific.

“Additionally, multi-national organisations are more than likely to absorb any short-term increases associated with relocating staff to New Zealand.”

Ms Barnaby said organisations managing an international workforce should not view costs associated with currency fluctuations in isolation but factor it into the longer-term growth plan for the business.

Luanda in Angola kept its title as the most expensive city, while Tokyo was the second most expensive. Moscow, ranked at number four, was the most expensive European city.

The cheapest city was Karachi in Pakistan for the second year in a row.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown said people were aware that Auckland could be an expensive place to live.

“That’s why the council is focused on keeping rates affordable and fixing up the transport system so people don’t have to spend as much of their income getting around.”

He said the city had a good balance of affordable living compared to other countries, along with a strong economy, great lifestyle, interesting arts and culture, diverse communities and an attractive healthy environment – but the there was work to be done to build on those attributes in order to create “an even more liveable city.”

The most expensive cities:
Rank City Country
1 Luanda, Angola
2 Tokyo, Japan
14 Sydney, Australia
18 London, United Kingdom
21 Melbourne, Australia
27 Paris, France
77 Los Angeles, USA
118 Auckland, New Zealand
136 Wellington, New Zealand
214 Karachi, Pakistan

Original article by NZ Herald

However consents fell sharply in Christchurch during June, when compared to previous months.

ASB economist Jane Turner said it was possible households had put repair plans on hold as they assessed damage to their homes during the early June earthquakes.

“The number of consents issued remains extremely low and has yet to pick up in a meaningful sense. We expect residential repair work and construction of replacement housing will begin in early 2012,” Turner said.

Building consents issued nationwide for new houses fell 4.5 per cent to 965 in June from May in seasonally adjusted terms after three months of rises.

Despite this, the trend in new homes being consented, excluding apartment units, continued to indicate a gradual rise, although Statistics New Zealand said it was still not possible to confirm whether this was a consistent upward movement.

Including the volatile apartment unit category, building consents for new dwellings fell 1.4 per cent to 1031 seasonally adjusted in June from May.

“As we saw in the May figures, when apartments are excluded, the longer-term trend shows a small increase in homes authorised recently,” Statistics New Zealand industry and labour statistics manager Louise Holmes-Oliver said.

“However, while the trend has certainly flattened after a year of decline, it is still not possible to confirm if it has started to rise – at least one more month of positive movement would be necessary,” she said.

Unadjusted annual figures for all dwellings showed 995 consents issued in June, down 27.5 per cent from 1373 in June 2010.

Excluding apartments, there were 935 home building consents in June 2011, down 29 per cent from 1316 the same month a year ago.

In the year ended June, building consents, including apartment units, issued over those 12 months were down 16.3 per cent from the June 2010 year, while excluding apartments, home building consents were down 18.6 per cent from the previous year.

Original article by NZ Herald

In the next few days it’s possible someone will get an even better deal when abandoned land is flogged off; the pair’s only concern is they don’t want their town, Ohura, over-run. Not that there’s much chance of that. Demand is not high for plots of land in this part of remote King Country – it’s flood-prone, with no cellphone coverage and three-quarters of an hour’s drive from the nearest town.

Ohura doesn’t exactly scream location, location, location. Rather, it resembles a ghost-town; a shell of its former self; the population dropped by a quarter to 165 in the last Census. But that was part of the appeal for the Hedges, who moved from Hamilton 10 years ago after Charles saw an advertisement in the local paper.

That $15,000 later and a home and prime retail space was theirs. They’re putting it to use in a type of his ‘n’ hers retail arrangement – Charles stores his collection of odd-looking bicycles and 1950s motorbikes in his shop and Janet turned hers into a second-hand shop, called Janet’s.

She opens every Saturday, or on request, although requests can make her grumpy, Charles says. Charles, 74, was sick of Hamilton and wanted enough room to pursue his love of tinkering in peace and quiet.

“My husband saw in the paper this place called Ohura. So we came down,” says Janet. “Me and my grandkids took one look at it and oh gee! Charles fell in love with it.” They’re key components of the town, though moving was “a shock to the system”.

The former bus company manager keeps herself busy weaving and running the Ohura Residents Society. She gets to town in Taumarunui usually about once a fortnight and goes to Te Kuiti once every one or two weeks to sell her weaving. Charles is content not having anyone around. “I wouldn’t like to live anywhere else. I don’t really have a routine – I just do what I want.” They do, however, notice the numbers dwindling, but if moves by Ruapehu District Council work, that could reverse. Why? Tenders have just closed on the latest round of abandoned land sales, where the council sells off land on behalf of owners who don’t pay their rates.

Council deputy chief executive Peter Till says it’s the third abandoned land sale in three years. Twenty-three properties throughout the Ruapehu district are abandoned, 10 of which are in Ohura. The last time, 10 properties didn’t even meet the reserve price, even though one section sold for $400.

This time, the council has lowered the tender reserve and is trying again. The council does not own the land, it’s just allowed to sell it. Although the money goes to the owner, usually it’s swallowed up by outstanding rates.

“In most cases, people write to the council saying they don’t want to pay their rates and are abandoning their land,” Till says. Over the next week, the council will decide who wins tenders and will get in touch with the winners. They don’t have to pay any of the rates owing – it’s not so much getting the money back but getting a good ratepayer for the future, he says. Many of the bids come from the town’s residents.

“If you’re the person next door, there’s a very good reason for buying a bigger section and getting to control your neighbourhood.” Till says, from memory, a three-bedroom home in Ohura sold for $10,000 in the last few years.

“That was a liveable house. The problem is, they don’t come with a job.” And that’s no small problem. There’s not a lot to attract anyone to the town. There has been talk of a new coal mine opening by the end of the year, but the mine prospectors have been saying that for years now. With nothing to reverse the trend, could the town disappear altogether?

“I think there’s a danger,” says Till. Ohura is the town that even the Forgotten Highway forgot. Heading west from Taumarunui on that scenic stretch of road, you turn off on to a narrow trail that carves its way through fog-ridden valleys which seem scooped out of the hillside. No sign welcomes you to Ohura. Just two wide, mossy strips of tarseal and a handful of abandoned buildings scattered along the roadside like broken teeth. Some abandoned sections can be seen from the main road, Ngarimu St.

One abandoned on Kereru Rd lies in disrepair among the weeds, a broken-down Subaru Legacy keeps it company. The house itself has seen better days. The paint’s peeling and vines grow from within the weatherboards. Moss and branches all but hide the purple leadlights looking out on to the sagging deck. It would make the perfect setting for a horror film.

Neighbour John Farnham says the owner died and the family didn’t pay the rates. “I’d be surprised if that place went for more than $10,000. Basically, they’re not worth anything.” It has a CV of $30,000 and annual rates of just over $1600.

On Kiwi St, another house sits on its abandoned site, but this one looks to be in slightly better nick. Nailed to the lone skeletal tree in the front yard is the frame of a tree-hut.

A discarded trampoline lies to one side. There are still kids’ bikes in the garage. Neighbours Lionel Wellington, 66, and Sue Riley, 57, say a woman lived there with her children. The unpaid rates built up and she tried to sell it for $3000-$4000 but with a stipulation – the back rates had to be paid. With the house remaining unsold, the family left to make a go of it in Taumarunui and now Sue and Lionel have a bid in on the house, but won’t say how much they’re offering. It’s not their first foray into the abandoned land market. It has a CV of $40,000 and rates of about $1600.

Last year Riley bought the abandoned section on the other side of her house for $1000. It’s not uncommon – every time some land comes up for tender, a mini game of Monopoly is played in Ohura, the residents trying to out-bid each other to extend their empires. The Hedges, though, are happy with their lot and aren’t looking to expand.

They warn it’s not simply a matter of fronting up with the purchase price and that there is a fair bit of solitude. “It’s got a bit dear with rates and that — people can’t afford their rates,” Janet says.

“The only thing going is the club. That’s the heart of Ohura – the cozzie club.” And as the pallid sunlight gives way to the fog, that’s where the residents of Ohura end up. The place is huge – large enough to squeeze in the town’s population three times over. Most of the tables and pool tables are covered over with sheets, the 50th birthday parties which attract large crowds increasingly uncommon.

A deer head mounted above the door wears a hat. Behind the bar are other bare essentials: Chef catfood and toilet paper. Handles of beer start at $2.50. A huge noticeboard is a forest of public notices. In front of it, a huddle of men in beanies and bush gear occupy one of the tables. Ainsley Wereta is one of them. The 42-year-old moved to Ohura about six months ago from Taihape to look after his grandparents. He says a three-bedroom rental costs between $80 and $100 in the town. He picks up shearing work or labouring to keep his family fed.

“It’s good as, I love it. “There’s a bit of hunting here, a few pigs and deer.” His three children, aged between 8 and 11, make up more than a quarter of the school’s roll. Wereta drinks with woodcutter Rob Dickinson, 55, who moved in five years ago to get away from his mortgage: “I own a house and I’m happy”. “Anyone can live here if they want but no one wants to. They want to live next to the Westfield shopping mall and the McDonald’s. “People say ‘you poor thing’. But really we’re lucky. I just don’t want anyone else living here.”

But people did live there once. Lots of people. The council’s property contracts supervisor, Denny Moynihan, grew up in Ohura, the third generation of coal miners in the town. He moved to Taumarunui about 20 years ago when the mine closed.

“I sold my five-bedroom home with two sections for $30,000, 20 years ago. “That’s the attraction – low value houses. But you’ve got to be prepared to live there.” He says growing up in the town was excellent – the town had its own council and rugby team. There were about 400 students at the primary and secondary schools there, whose parents worked the farms and coal mines in the area. But the mines shut and the smaller farms were bought out, shrinking the local labour force.

Instead of hosting small pockets of on-site workers, large farms would bring in teams of contractors who would sweep through the place in a few days, moving on to the next small town. The effects can be seen 30 years on, with Ohura on the verge of disappearing off the face of the earth. Almost anywhere else in the country, land going for a four-figure sum would most likely be a typing error and would inspire a flood of investors.

Not in Ohura. Location, location, location – the cliche holds true no matter where you are.

Original Source – NZ Herald

PricewaterhouseCoopers’ John Fisk and Richard Longman say Maison Property Holdings and 79 Manners Street owe creditors about $50.8 million, in their first reports on each entity.

Equitable Property Holdings called in the receivers in May, and is owed $14.4 million from both entities, and First Mortgage Trust is owed $1 million by Maison.

Failed lender South Canterbury Finance Ltd. faces the brunt with lower-ranked loans of some $27 million to 79 Manners St, while ASB Bank is owed $5.4 million and ANZ National Bank has $3 million outstanding from the same company.

Maison owns the Maison Cabriole Apartments in Tory Street, Wellington, made briefly notorious when convicted multiple murderer Graeme Burton hid out there.

Other properties involved include the Ivivi building in Victoria St, which houses the student radio station, Radio Active, and the Renaissance Apartments in Manners St.

Article continues below

Some car parks at 70 Tory St were carved out by the receivers after 79 Manners St entered into a sale and purchase agreement relating to the Century City Hotel, which is located at 70-78 Tory St, the report said.

“The proceeds of this sale will be applied to the secured creditors over this asset with no funds available to the receivership,” the report said.

“To ensure that the receivership did not affect the company’s ability to complete the sale, EML (Equitable Mortgages) partially revoked their appointment of receivers over this specific asset only.”

The building changed hands last week after it was offered as security on a loan from rival developer Mark Dunajtschik, and he has since put the property up for sale.

The receivers aren’t optimistic about the prospects for recovery, saying in both cases it is unlikely there will be any proceeds left over for unsecured creditors.

Serepisos today got a reprieve on a personal bankruptcy bid, getting a month-long adjournment in the High Court. FM Custodians, which acts for the frozen Canterbury Mortgage Trust, agreed to push out the timeframe to try and reach some agreement.

Two other bids to liquidate Century City-related companies were also withdrawn.

Original Source NZ Herald

There are few certainties in the unstable property market – but waterside homes are as close to a “shore” thing as you can get.

Although the number of homes and baches for sale near beaches, lakes and rivers has plummeted, most have held their value better than houses in other areas.

And in sought-after areas close to Auckland – particularly those popular with the rich and famous – premium prices are common.

Research prepared for the Herald on Sunday by qv.co.nz reveals changes to the waterfront market since the last market peak in late 2007.

Research director Jonno Ingerson said sales had dropped dramatically.

The number of waterfront homes changing hands last year was down two-thirds on 2007 – twice the total national decrease.

Ingerson blamed a drop in demand through the global financial crisis and owners nervous about losing cash in an uncertain market.

Of the 30 areas surveyed, prices in Cable Bay in the Far North took the biggest hammering, with properties losing almost a quarter of their value in little more than three years.

In general waterfront suburbs had out-performed other properties in the same area, Ingerson said.

The average property value in the Far North is 24 per cent below the market peak.

The price of homes in Paihia, Coopers Beach and Mangonui have dropped significantly less.

There was a similar trend in the Whangarei district, where the overall value had fallen 20 per cent but most waterfront suburbs about half that.

In Tauranga values had fallen 12 per cent, compared to 7 per cent in picturesque Papamoa Beach a short drive away.

There were success stories – usually places where the rich and famous like to play. Prices on Waiheke Island – a 35-minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland – were only just below the market peak. And Ingerson said Omaha Beach, about an hour north of the City of Sails, was a standout success.

The seaside getaway for such high-profile figures as Prime Minister John Key, designer Trelise Cooper and sailor Dean Barker had held its value the best. Bayleys agent Rob Hall said beachfront sections still commanded close to $2m and homes at the more recently-developed end of the beach about $3m. An entry-level bach could cost $600,000 to $700,000.

Original article by By Rachel Grunwell – At NZ Herald

A group of Auckland Lawyers working with the Auckland District Law Society have plans to offer a all in one legal and selling system set up for home owners. Read the article below.

A new front has opened in the property selling war, with a service run by lawyers promising to undercut real estate agents by thousands of dollars.

A group of Auckland lawyers, working with the Auckland District Law Society, will next month launch a business to rival the traditional model offered by real estate agents.

The new company is ACRES (A Complete Real Estate System). Director and Auckland lawyer Mike Tolhurst said it was long overdue.

Lawyers’ fees would be substantially less than agents’ commissions, traditionally about 3 per cent to 4 per cent of the selling price.

He said clients will get the bonus of being legally protected throughout the selling process and believed that would appeal to Kiwis spooked by the prevalence of leaky homes.

“We’re aiming to offer the public a far better deal. It will legally protect vendors and purchasers.”

The lawyers, who operate through strict codes of conduct, will contract real estate professionals to organise adverts and run open homes. About a dozen lawyers are kicking off the service in the central city, North Shore and South Auckland, but the company hopes to expand nationwide.

Tolhurst said lawyers believed it was unfair to charge commission based on the sale price because the same amount of work was needed to sell most homes.

ACRES would only charge a fee if the property sold and the amount would be agreed upfront on a case-by-case basis.

Tolhurst expected the charge to be between $5000 and $10,000 a home.

The lawyers aren’t the only people taking on established agents.

Mortgage broker Mike Pero has moved into the sales market promising a commission rate 1 per cent lower than the 3.95 per cent charged by “most” companies.

He claims that will save sellers between $3000 and $6000.

ACRES and Pero will be hoping to succeed where other cut-price agencies have failed.

The Joneses, which charged a flat-fee commission, folded in 2008 after just 18 months.

Tolhurst said his company, which has been in the works for about 18 months, was more likely to succeed because lawyers already had their own client bases and other sources of revenue.

“There’s no big capital input or chain of offices to set up,” he said.

Real Estate Institute chief executive Helen O’Sullivan said lawyers could provide a “competitive offering” and legal skills but questioned their marketing backgrounds.

“I will be interested to see how they make the crossover into the business.”

She said consumers should remember some real estate companies had up to 1700 agents.

“They have an extended network and marketing reach.”

$10,000 IN FEES SAVED

Craig Hutchinson reckons he saved about $10,000 in fees by using his lawyer to sell his late mother’s Auckland home.

When Hutchinson and a sibling inherited the two-bedroom home in Waterview they consulted real estate agents and checked on similar sales to find out what it was worth.

Hutchinson said his lawyer, Mike Tolhurst, was offering a service similar to traditional agents, but he knew and trusted him and his fee was cheaper.

Through Tolhurst, he picked an agent he liked to do the marketing and open homes.

It took five weeks for the low-maintenance weatherboard home, with private backyard, to sell for $380,000.

The price was about $6000 more than a similar property nearby went for.

“It was fair market value – and the fees made it that much sweeter,” he said.

Hutchinson said he paid $7500 – a fee agreed upfront and which included marketing.

He claims other agents he consulted would have charged him about $10,000 more.

Hutchison said the savings were much needed. He owns an industrial cutting tools business which has been hit hard by the Christchurch earthquakes.

Before making an application always try to resolve the issue with your tenant directly but if there has been a
breach of the tenancy agreement then you may need to make an application to the Tenancy Tribunal. Prior to
taking this step you may also have issued a 14 day notice to seek remedy of the breach.

To make an online application go to: https://secure.dbh.govt.nz/TenancyTribunal/

To complete an online application to the Tenancy Tribunal you will need to have a working email address,
a valid credit card (VISA or MasterCard), your Bond number, and documentation relating to the tenancy (e.g.
tenancy agreement, rent arrears summary, 14 day notices). This documentation can also be scanned and
uploaded with your application.

For more information you can call the Dept of Building and Housing helpline on 0800 83 62 62, or you can e-mail
info@dbh.govt.nz. You can also find more information on the DBH website at http://www.dbh.govt.nz

Bryers is acting as a “financial adviser” to unwitting Australian property investors in a deal with many hallmarks of the disastrous Blue Chip operation that collapsed owing 3000 investors $80 million.

Bryers was bankrupted in October 2009 owing personal creditors $230 million and last year was banned here and in Australia from acting as a company director, and convicted of 34 financial-reporting breaches.

In Australia, he is being touted to clients of an accountancy firm as a financial and property expert.

Bryers is operating with Australians revealed by the Weekend Herald last year to be backing him and to be connected to the last surviving Blue Chip company now called Northern Crest Investments.

Northern Crest is seeking to relist on the Australian Stock Exchange after being delisted for failing to file financial statements.

An investor, who asked not to be named, gave the Herald details of an apartment investment that Bryers organised for her and her partner which has left them without rental income from their unit, despite it being tenanted, and with no equity left in their home. He was acting as their “investment adviser”.

According to an appraisal by Colliers International, their apartment at Cotton Beach in northern NSW would need to be listed about A$80,000 less than the A$546,000 they paid for it in September.

Colliers also warned that there had been little interest in five similar re-sales it had on its books.

The couple received rent from their unit for only the first month. They said they have since learned that subsequent payments had been paid to the developer under an agreement it had with the unit’s vendor a Bryers associate.

They estimate they are owed A$6000 on a rental guarantee they believed was part of the purchase agreement.

The woman investor said they had about eight meetings with Bryers in the Brisbane offices of their accountant, who had recommended him.

Bryers would travel from Sydney and the woman said their accountant told them he was also travelling for work to Hervey Bay (north of Brisbane), the Gold Coast, within NSW and to Perth.

The investor said Bryers failed to tell them of his Blue Chip failure or that he is a banned director on both sides of the Tasman, or that the property deal he got them into was with parties associated with him and Northern Crest.

“Something in my gut made me Google him,” she said. “I had a gut feeling after they rushed this sale and Mark wanted us to purchase another [unit in Nelson Bay, north of Sydney] just before Christmas.”

She said she was shocked by what she found. “I did not know any of Mark’s history. He makes you feel like he’s your best friend. Mark tells us every time he sees us that he is going to clean up our affairs and get us to retirement sooner.”

When, prior to purchase, National Australia Bank valued the unit at A$480,000 and would advance only 80 per cent, she said Bryers assured her the apartment was worth much more and told her they were lucky he had a “friend who owes me [Bryers] a favour” who would lend them the balance.

That mortgage was with Territory No1 Ltd, owned by Canberra businessman Robert “Bob” Hughes.

The investor then discovered that the vendor of their apartment, B.O.B. Ltd, was also owned by Mr Hughes.

The Herald last year reported that another of Mr Hughes’ companies, Columbus Property Marketing, was in business with Northern Crest, having entered into a licensing agreement.

Northern Crest also has a licensing agreement with Rutherford Franchising. A sister company called Rutherford Capital has been involved in the investors’ purchase at Cotton Beach.

The chairman of Northern Crest is Marc Wilson, a Canberra accountant and principal of WWP Accountants and Business Advisers. Mr Wilson was appointed an independent director of Northern Crest in May 2009.

Mr Wilson is also a director, with Mr Hughes, of Territory No1.

Bryers and Mr Hughes appear to have close business links. Shortly before his bankruptcy, Bryers transferred three firms to Mr Hughes.

According to a probation report filed with the Auckland District Court at the time Bryers was convicted, Northern Crest was paying him up to $12,000 a month as a consultant. It also paid the rent for his apartment overlooking the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House where he was living as late as last month.

Neither Bryers, Mr Hughes nor Mr Wilson responded to messages left by the Herald in time for this article.

Last year, Mr Hughes told the Herald Columbus had paid a licensing fee “to work for Northern Crest”.

Of his relationship with Bryers, he said he had met him in 2009. “He is not an employee of ours and that is probably as far as I would like to go.”

The investors said they did not pay Bryers and that Bryers did tell them he would receive a fee for their Cotton Beach purchase.

As a result of the investment, the couple have had to refinance their home and say there is now no equity left in it. “This has caused us tremendous financial pressure.”

The woman investor said Bryers had told them he was negotiating with Mr Hughes to offset rental arrears against their loan, and for rental to be paid to them each month. But nothing was put in writing.

Lawyer Paul Dale, who has represented many unhappy NZ Blue Chip clients, said the scenario described by the Australian investors “does sound very familiar. Unless regulators take active steps, the gullible will continue to be hoodwinked”.

The Ministry of Economic Development has also received information about Bryers’ activities in Australia. Official Assignee Les Currie said anyone wanting to complain about them should phone the Insolvency and Trustee Service through its free helpline (0508-467-658) “and we will investigate all complaints”.

Bryers comes up for discharge from his bankruptcy in October. He is understood to have made no contributions to his bankrupt estate, nor paid a $37,500 fine imposed on him by the court in Auckland.

Owners in this situation must now appoint a New Zealand based agent for the entire duration of the time that they will be out of the country. Failing to comply with this provision of the RTA by March 2011 could result in the awarding of costs to the tenant of up to $1000. The changes have been made to ensure that tenants are always able to contact a local agent working on behalf of the owner when they are out of the country.

Owners can choose either a professional management company or could elect to use someone such as a family member to manage their property whilst overseas. Prior to going overseas the tenant must be notified of the agent’s contact details and the bond centre must also be notified.

When deciding who will manage your property while you are overseas, remember that property management is simple when everything is going right, but ensure that whoever you choose is both prepared, and suitably experienced, to be able to deal with a tenancy emergency should one arise.

Refer Residential Tenancy Act – new section 16A

Well – as much as you would like to throw this stuff out, it is amazing how a shonky old table can quickly become a prized family heirloom, or a ripped old pair of jeans can become a piece of designer clothing, which a returning
tenant will decide to claim against you for.

Under section 62 of the Residential Tenancies Act only food and perishable goods may be discarded immediately by the landlord and all other items should be stored securely pending an application to the tenancy tribunal. The tribunal will then make an order either for the return of the goods to the tenant, or allow for the sale or disposal of the abandoned goods.

While it is a nuisance, the best way to protect yourself is to get a disposal order from the tenancy tribunal.