Hutt building boom spreads
Fancy a house next to a newly upgraded park and within a stone’s throw of the Hutt River?
Lower Hutt’s Park View is the latest subdivision to hit the city’s red hot property market and it comes with a great view.
Stuff recently reported that Lower Hutt was undergoing a boom in new house building.
Park View and an as yet unnamed development near Avalon Intermediate, show the boom is spreading beyond Wainuiomata, vacant Housing New Zealand land and the Western Hills, where most of the growth has been taking place.
Realtor Kristin Davis said the subdivision’s name reflected its unique location overlooking Avalon Park.
The park is undergoing a $5.7 million upgrade and the land was surplus to requirements.
It is being developed by the council’s property company UrbanPlus, which recently finished a 20-home development in Fairfield.
Realtor Kristin Davis said proximity to the park was definitely the biggest selling point.
‘‘You get a lifestyle [block] type property view, yet you are in the city.’’
Although she thought the 140sqm properties would appeal to families, she has had a lot of interest from older buyers.
There is a shortage of new single storey properties on the valley floor and she said there was a strong demand for low maintenance properties with a garden.
The two and three- bedroom properties were selling for between $675,000 and $750,000.
Davis was confident Park View would sell quickly. Despite the number of new builds across the city, there were still a lot of buyers looking for a new home, she said.
Avalon and the nearby suburb of Taita were once dominated by market gardens. Most of the gardens were sold for housing in the 1970s and 60s. The largest pocket of flat land left is near Avalon Intermediate.
Principal Ian Hastie said the land was purchased by developer Rudy van Baarle who planned to build 31 houses.
It will be accessed via High St, requiring the removal of the school’s old swimming pool which had not been used for decades.
Realtor John Ross said the houses would be a mixture of small and large houses that would be built to a high quality.
He said there was a huge shortage of undeveloped flat land in Lower Hutt and he expected the demand for new builds to remain high.