Building industry full steam ahead
As building hits the brakes in Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland - it’s full steam ahead in Taranaki.
Not only have the number of consents climbed but so have total values, toppling previous years’ records at more than $330 million between September 2016 and the same month this year.
And it looks like this upward trend will only continue - at least that’s what builder Rodger Hassall believes.
‘‘We’re handling 20 houses at any given time,’’ the director of Hassall Homes said.
‘‘I don’t see it slowing down any time soon.’’
Recent figures from Stats New Zealand show Taranaki has had about 2139 new and altered consents lodged in the 12 months ended September.
Of these, about 618 were new residential buildings - 441 of which were in New Plymouth District.
But Hassall argues the main city isn’t experiencing a building boom, rather a steady growth.
‘‘I’ve been a builder all my life, and New Plymouth has been busy the last 25 years,’’ he said.
Valuer Stephen Hodge, director of Taranaki Property Valuers, agreed the region was seeing normal development.
‘‘It’s not all climbing at the same rate,’’ he said.
‘‘From what I’ve seen, it may be rising proportionally with everything else.’’
Hodge said population growth pressured development and with majority of that growth in New Plymouth, it was only natural to see property prices increase.
‘‘But the property market doesn’t follow any standard rule. Anything can change the property market.’’
The value of consents have also seen a boost. Venture Taranaki (VT) found the region had $332 million worth of building consents in the year, ended September.
This was a 12.8 per cent jump from the year prior and almost double the national average increase of 6.8 per cent.
But the increase in value isn’t necessarily due to the cost of construction, Hassall said.
‘‘Building hasn’t gone up a whole lot, it’s the land - that is the key in building,’’ he said.
From September 2016 to September this year, New Plymouth District Council issued consents totalling $275.12m, whereas South Taranaki District Council issued consents valued at $50.85m, and Stratford District Council issued $19.4m worth of consents.
Though New Plymouth took out the largest chunk of the region’s total consent value, VT found Stratford had the highest percentage change in value.
Compared to last year’s totals, the small town had a 58 per cent increase in consent value while New Plymouth had a 10.9 increase and South Taranaki, a 10.5 increase.
A reason for Stratford’s spike in consent value could be linked to plans for a new multi-million dollar redevelopment.
Housing valuations in Taranaki have also climbed, ‘‘particularly within Stratford District’’, VT figures show.
The average home in New Plymouth costs $426,255 - an 8.3 per cent increase in the year ended August 2017.
South Taranaki saw a 7.1 per cent boost in the same time, with the average home priced at $205,833.
Again, Stratford had a larger leap with a 10 per cent value increase, pushing the average cost of a home to $244,076.
Hodge said while the town doesn’t have population pressures, there was a lot of action taking place.
‘‘Stratford is getting far superior buildings to what they have now,’’ he said.
‘‘There’s some very nice houses and very nice renovations going on.’’
"I don't see it slowing down any time soon." Rodger Hassall