Rotorua Property Briefs 21 February 2012

RATEPAYERS GROAN AT $4M BILL

Rotorua residents are annoyed but not surprised ratepayers are being asked to foot the bill for the redevelopment of the Rotorua International Airport.

The Rotorua District Council announced this week $4 million a year for at least the next 10 years would have to come from rates and would be used to pay the interest and some of the principal on the council's $58 million debt on the airport.

The Daily Post, 16 February 2012

MOTEL BUILDING CHARGE SLASHED AS OTHER FEES RISE

Fees and charges for services provided by Rotorua's council will rise in the coming financial year, but the city's moteliers are happier after one of their annual fees is set to be more than halved.

At a meeting of the council's corporate and customer services committee on Tuesday, councillors decided to increase fees across four departments - Animal Control, Environmental Health, Resource Management/Town Planning and Building Services.

All but one department could see fees increasing by about 3.4 per cent, in line with inflation, with the largest rise in the Building Services department with an average fee increase of 5.8 per cent. However, fees for building warrant of fitness checks will be reduced for moteliers.

The Daily Post, 16 February 2012

INVESTORS OPT FOR FIXED RATE DEPOSITS

Rotorua investors are following the national trend, opting for lower risk investments and favouring fixed-rate term deposits over rental property.

A quarterly investment survey by the ASB showed term deposits were perceived as the investment giving the best returns for the seventh consecutive quarter. Rental property, which led by a significant margin five years ago (see graph), remains in second place for the second year in a row.

"People seem to be more wary of rental property because the chance of capital gain is not as great as it was and many people, who have had to sell, have had capital losses."

Williams said tax changes had affected the attractiveness of rental property as an investment.

The Daily Post, 15 February 2012

COUNCIL AIMS FOR 2.9 PER CENT RATES RISE

Councillors are aiming for a rates increase across the district of no more than 2.9 per cent this coming financial year.

However, Rotorua district councillors need to find about $400,000 to achieve that target during this week's budget discussions.

The Daily Post, 15 February 2012

HOME SALES RECOVER IN JANUARY AS LISTINGS LAG

New Zealand home sales climbed by more than a quarter in January from the same month last year as the market gradually recovers momentum after an extended lull.

The number of sales rose 25 percent to 4,073 last month from January 2011, when it recorded its worst month ever, and was down 7.4 percent from December, according to Real Estate Institute data.

The Daily Post, 15 February 2012

IWI THINK CHINESE CRAFAR BID WILL GO THROUGH

A spokesman for the iwi consortium bidding for a slice of the Crafar farms doesn't have much confidence the Government will change its former position of rubber stamping a Chinese sale offer.

Hardie Peni is part of the tribal consortium made up of Maori land trusts from Ngati Tuwharetoa, Ngati Rereahu and another group that Mr Pene said does not want to be publicly identified.

Mr Peni who is part of two Rereahu trusts which took the matter, along with Sir Michael Fay, to the High Court said the iwi consortium wanted six or seven of the 16 dairy and drystock farms.

It bid roughly $28,000 a hectare for between 3000 to 4000 hectares putting the consortium's contribution between $84 million and $112 million.

The Daily Post, 17 February 2012

ROTORUA BECOMING CONFERENCE CAPITAL

Rotorua and Taupo both increased their market share of multi-day conferences in 2011.

In 2010, Rotorua accounted for 10 per cent of conferences and conventions of more than one day. In 2011, that had grown to 14 per cent. The city hosted 297 multi-day conferences - up 10 per cent on the previous year - with 40,000 delegates who spent a total of 140,000 days in Rotorua and spent an estimated $60 million here.

The Daily Post, 17 February 2012

Posted: Tue 21 Feb 2012

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