Commercial space hard to buy

Prime commercial office property investor AMP NZ Office Trust (ANZO) says it is having trouble finding more properties to buy.

Executive manager Robert Lang told ANZO's annual meeting in Wellington yesterday the trust would have liked to have done more than the two major transactions it had in the past year, but was having trouble finding buildings that met its criteria.

ANZO has 11 properties in Auckland and Wellington. Major developments in the past year were the $33.1 million redevelopment of No 1 The Terrace, and its $29.3 million acquisition of Mayfair House, both in Wellington.

Lang said the trust had looked outside Auckland and Wellington for other investments but had yet to find anything suitable. Also, with some regional markets the size of investments would make little difference to ANZO's performance.

"That's a real issue for us as an investor in New Zealand, finding an appropriate growth path going forward," Lang said.

ANZO was looking forward to delivering more than just two assets a year hopefully.

In the year to June, ANZO's earnings before revaluations were up 4.4 per cent to $35.9 million, the gross revaluation gain was $126 million, while total assets rose 20.9 per cent to just above $1 billion.

ANZO has 53 per cent of its portfolio by value in Auckland, and 47 per cent in Wellington. Of its Wellington portfolio, 41 per cent of the net lettable area is rented by the government sector.

Lang said that should a new government led by the National Party be elected it would not necessarily reduce the size of the government sector, although it may reduce the rate of growth.

- NZPA