Developers sell out of inner city homes
Housing construction is lagging behind demand in central Christchurch, despite large tracts of vacant land and a push for more inner city residents.
Developers say the heated housing market has exhausted their stocks inside the four avenues, with both homeowners and investors seeking properties.
The Christchurch City Council has a target of 20,000 central city residents by 2028. An estimated 7000-8000 people live in the area now. The Crown-led east frame housing development, an anchor rebuild project, has so far delivered a fifth of its intended homes. The east frame has been planned with 900 apartments, townhouses and terraced homes over six city blocks between Manchester and Madras streets.
Private developer Fletcher Living, charged with completing the development by Crown company O¯ ta¯karo, has built 172 homes between Worcester and Lichfield streets, selling the last of them in recent weeks.
A further 68 east frame homes are now under construction opposite Latimer Square, with 22 due for completion in spring and the remainder next year. Prices range from $675,000 to $1 million.
After slowing development to match a sluggish market in previous years, Fletcher is now under pressure to ramp up construction to meet demand.
O¯ ta¯ karo chief executive John Bridgman said sales in the east frame were ‘‘going very well’’.
‘‘Now we have to crack on and get some more done.’’
The council confirmed it had not received any recent consent applications from Fletcher for more east frame housing.
A Fletcher spokesperson said they were in the process of designing the next 101 homes.
The first east frame homes built during 2018 and 2019 were slow to sell, triggering concern from Treasury and prompting Fletcher to seek Government permission to change the type, number and timing of units.
The Crown still owns
3.8 hectares of land over seven lots in the east frame, which will be transferred to Fletcher for construction as needed.
Matthew Horncastle, managing director of private apartment developer Williams Corporation, said his company had sold all the
400-odd central Christchurch homes it had built since the quakes. The company had also sold all 42 homes about to go up on the former Stonehurst site in Gloucester St, priced at $400,000 and $500,000. It bought the property six months ago.
‘‘Christchurch is waking up to the fact that the central city is great value. If you produce the right product, they will buy it,’’ Horncastle said.
‘‘Any more land we can get our hands on, we will build on it.’’
Last month, O¯ ta¯karo abandoned plans for another central Christchurch anchor project, the Breathe demonstration village.
O¯ ta¯ karo was seeking offers from private developers for the site, after two previous proposals collapsed. The site, opposite Latimer Square, was worth about $10m based on current land prices and could hold up to 100 homes. Like the east frame, the land for the Breathe project was acquired under rebuild legislation.
Existing homes are also selling strongly inside Christchurch’s four avenues. Trade Me was last weekend advertising about 70 central city homes for sale. Prices range from $250,000 for a one-bedroom apartment in Cathedral Junction to $6.5m for a two-level penthouse in The Spire apartment tower in Kilmore St due to be finished in November.
State-owned valuer QV reported on Friday that in the year to the end of January, Christchurch’s average house price rose 11.8 per cent to $570,000.