Rental myth ‘busted’

Seasonal workers have a smaller impact on Marlborough’s rental market than thought, a new report reveals.

An investigation launched into the region’s housing demand have revealed Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workers affect about 2 per cent of the rental market, busting a long-held belief that seasonal workers are elbowing out locals.

It comes after the government reclassified Marlborough as a ‘‘medium growth area’’, where before it was a ‘‘low growth area’’, and the change brought certain requirements.

The Marlborough District

Council must now actively monitor house prices and rents, and how they relate to population growth, making sure there is enough land for homes, businesses and industry.

The council’s first housing and business development assessment since the change looked at the forecasted demand for land in Blenheim, and, as part of that, how seasonal workers affected the property market.

Council strategic planner

Emma Toy said she met with a majority of the region’s RSE employers to help fill the ‘‘big hole’’ in seasonal worker accommodation data.

Her findings, which were released as part of the assessment last week, found that despite popular belief, seasonal workers took up just 2 per cent of the region’s rental market, which was ‘‘not that significant’’.

Wine Marlborough advocacy manager Vance Kerslake said the report had ‘‘busted’’ one of the biggest myths about the rental market, which was that seasonal workers took up space and pushed up prices.

‘‘Two per cent is a very small amount of the rental market here. And it’s good to know that, because before the council did the work, noone really new, and a lot of people overestimated the number they took up,’’ he said.

Shifting trends also meant employers were looking to invest more in their own accommodation, pulling more workers from the rental market long-term, she said.

Private housing allowed employers to provide accommodation that met the needs of their employees, she said. It was also a reliable housing option, as it was owned by employers.

‘‘If they [employers] are renting on the private market, they don’t have that same guarantee that it will always be there, so there’s a move towards purchasing and building their own accommodation,’’ she said.

Toy said she had spoken with the labour inspector and found about 200 residential homes that had housed RSE workers had been returned to the region’s housing market in the past few years, which was a ‘‘significant change’’.

There were currently 151 approved properties that housed seasonal workers in Marlborough, with a total bed count of 2362, or an average of 15 beds per property.

Figures from the report showed of the properties, 107 were owned or rented houses, 11 were purpose-built and 33 were dubbed ‘‘other’’, such as backpacker hostels.

Owned or rented houses averaged about nine beds per house, well above the three-bed average, as seasonal workers often slept in bigger, purposely-modified homes, she said.

Resource consents issued in the past few years would cater for another 1004 new beds, the report said.

Land availability was seen as the biggest constraint, alongside the time it took for resource consents to go through the council process for development of accommodation, the report said.

The council aimed to encourage the development of worker accommodation in urban areas, such as Renwick and Blenheim, rather than rural areas to improve access to amenities, the report said.

Feedback from labour supply companies showed being close to town was beneficial for workers because they could be part of the community, and have good access to services, it said.

Employers also agreed the region needed an increase in seasonal workers to help manage the increase in grape production, Toy said.

‘‘Other feedback we received from employers too is that Renwick may be a good option for new developments, due to its location,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s a community that has facilities, like shops, but is still close to where the new plantings are.’’

Woodbourne was also earmarked as a potential opportunity for worker accommodation facilities, she said.

Kerslake said RSE employers had invested ‘‘tens of millions’’ into building new purpose-built accommodation, showcasing their commitment to taking pressure off the region’s rental market.

The shift from towards purposebuilt accommodation had been happening for a ‘‘number of years’’ in Marlborough, and the new report now backed the trend, Kerslake said.

‘‘Most of the accommodation is reasonably near to town, and I think that’s a positive. It allows the workers to have good access to services and also to integrate with the community, [like] take part in sports and recreational activities,’’ he said.

He thought the opportunity to develop RSE accommodation to the west of Blenheim, where most new vineyard developments were happening, would be ‘‘welcome’’, he said.

The council received the report at a planning, finance and community committee last week.