Kiwibuild ballot open homes in Marfell begin
Catriona Oates is going to put her name down for the ballot on most of the new Kiwibuild homes in New Plymouth – she says it’s her only shot at getting into the property market.
The 20-year-old McDonald’s shift manager was one of the dozens of potential buyers roaming the remaining Discovery Development properties at the weekend, on the first day of open homes for the ballot.
The homes were opened to the public from 11am-2pm on Saturday and Sunday, and will be opened again for the following two weekends before the ballot opens at 9am on June 21.
Oates said she had been considering buying a Kiwibuild home since construction started so she could get into the property market.
Having watched house prices skyrocket, she said Kiwibuild was the one option she could afford. ‘‘This is a way.’’
Oates spent her Saturday morning enthusiastically walking through all the homes with her parents.
Interestingly, she liked the odd numbered homes the best.
She thought it was good that the ballot system was based on luck, not the amount of money someone could bid.
‘‘I am excited,’’ she said. ‘‘And if I get pushed out it’s like it’s nothing I’ve done.’’
There are 26 standalone and duplex houses left in the development, with three-bedroom homes costing $420,000 and four-bedroom homes $440,000.
In Reinz’s latest report, New Plymouth’s median house price in April was $620,000.
The ballot comes to an end at 11.59pm on Monday, June 28.
Those eligible for Kiwibuild can put their name down for as many of the homes as they like.
The ballot system has previously been criticised by a New Plymouth mother, who thought she would finally enter the property market at 50 through the Kiwibuild’s first-in, first-served process.
Then, because of the popularity of the New Plymouth properties, the selling system was changed to a ballot.
In an emailed statement, a spokesman from Ka¯inga Ora – Homes and Communities, which runs the Kiwibuild development, would not give numbers of how many people had shown an interest in the ballot.
He said it was best to check in on how many people had signed up for the ballot once it opened.