By DAVID DUNHAM
Housing New Zealand plans to spend more than $34 million over the next three years on new properties in the Bay of Plenty for people on low incomes.
The 155 new homes would take the number of properties owned or managed by Housing NZ close to the 3000 mark, though details of where they would be are currently not available.
The investment of $34.4m will also help reduce the corporation's waiting list for people wanting to move into homes which currently stands at 56 in Tauranga.
Figures obtained by the Bay of Plenty Times show that a total of 1212 houses are managed by Housing NZ in the Western Bay.
The area defined by the corporation as Yatton Park has the highest number of homes with 165. Welcome Bay followed with 119.
In comparison, Te Puna, Pongakawa, Te Puke West, Poike and Paengaroa have just one property in each, while Katikati has 11.
Further information obtained using the Official Information Act has revealed that the property owned by Housing NZ with the highest valuation in the Western Bay is in Maranui St, Mount Maunganui.
The five-bedroom home - according to the latest Government valuation, which was 12 months ago - is worth $502,000.
The top five homes with the highest property values are all in Mount Maunganui and have a combined value of $2.34m or an average of $468,000.
In the last 12 months to April, 41 houses in the Western Bay were bought by Housing NZ.
The house with the highest value bought in the past year is in Welcome Bay. The five-bedroom property came at a cost of $420,000.
Gill Beadle, marketing manager for Eves and Bayleys, said finding a five-bedroom home available for purchase anywhere in Tauranga would be difficult.
He also said finding a property of that size for the price of about $420,000 in Tauranga would be hard to beat.
But residents in the Welcome Bay street where the property was bought are concerned the value of their homes has dropped because of the Housing NZ purchase.
"Having it puts a stigma on the rest of us if we are going to sell," said one resident, who asked that they and the street not be named.
"The mood has changed [since the house was bought]. Everyone feels frightened that if they go to sell, their house will not be worth what it was before the house went to Housing New Zealand."
Housing NZ spokesperson Kathryn O'Sullivan said the corporation assessed each house on a case-by-case basis to see if it fitted the requirements and whether there was a need for a certain-sized property.
And while Housing NZ is buying properties, it also has to face the problem of bad tenants.
The Bay Times revealed last month how $48,000 was owed by 173 tenants in rent while $51,000 worth of damage by 196 tenants had yet to be paid for. The most common damage redress was cleaning and rubbish removal.
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