Housing affordability a key election issue. Photo/File
The Rotorua Daily Post begins a series of reports looking at election issues for our region, and what our candidates have to say. This week, reporter Alice Guy looks at housing affordability.
Many would argue the affordability and availability of homes is one of the biggest issues facing Rotorua - as well as the country as a whole.
The latest QV report showed that the average property value in Rotorua had risen 17.8 per cent over the past year, to $399,024.
But Professionals McDowell Real Estate's Steve Lovegrove said while house prices had risen he didn't think they had gone so high they were pricing people out of the market.
"Our problem, as with many other centres in New Zealand, is that we just don't have enough available stock."
Mr Lovegrove said the lifestyle and cost of living in Rotorua was more achievable than other big cities.
"Statistics are showing that population growth is definitely happening in Rotorua.
"We are becoming more noticed as a desirable place to move to and a place to live."
Last year only 121 new homes were consented in Rotorua, 7 per cent of the number consented in Tauranga.
Mr Lovegrove said he would like to see the expansion and development of more suburban residential properties.
"So that we can see Rotorua grow and continue to develop in a modern way and provide offerings to new people who want to move here for whatever reason," he said.
Rotorua Lakes Council announced last month it had entered into a negotiation process with the Government to set up a housing accord which could speed up the consenting process.
"I do think we need to step up the speed on this," Mr Lovegrove said.
"We need a working relationship between central and local government to expedite the process of getting developments done and getting sections released."
Mr Lovegrove said the pressure on housing was also visible in the rental market.
"We are still short of rental stock, we still have more tenants than we've got available rentals, quite significantly."
District councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait said housing affordability was starting to worry prospective buyers.
"We have seen house prices rising steadily, particularly over the last 18 months, and now housing stock is in high demand.
"We are getting people from outside of Rotorua who see our house prices as being affordable to them, particularly if they come from Auckland and other bigger cities."
Ms Raukawa-Tait said the council had to ensure it didn't put road blocks in front of developers, help in speeding up consent processes and talk as early as possible to those who wanted to make land available for housing development.
"Working collaboratively is vital to addressing housing issues within the district."
A Rotorua mother of two, who chose to be known as Hilary, entered the housing market just over 10 years ago with the help of her husband.
"I probably couldn't have entered it alone, but we got married and had a joint income.
"My husband is a builder, so we built our first home in Paradise Valley."
Hilary said she could see how difficult it was for people now trying to buy their first property.
"The Government put in schemes to help young people, but there were too many technicalities.
"My two kids are both trying to get on the property ladder and build their own home, but they were denied help due to stupid technicalities."
Neither of Hilary's children were eligible for financial help from the Government or KiwiSaver and had to find the money on their own.
Hilary said her two kids and their partners all shared a rental property so they could keep their head above the water while saving for the builds.
"The current price for a 20 per cent deposit isn't doable.
"My husband and I look at ourselves when we were in our 20s and we couldn't have done it."
She said her husband often complained that there were not enough sections to build on and those out there were too expensive.
"Everything is taking so long to process," she said.
"At some point there has to be a commonsense approach and someone has to do something without being too scared to make a start."
A Rotorua man who chose not to be named said he had friends who were "putting in the hard yards" but couldn't afford a home.
"If you're on a lower income there's no way you can afford property.
"People aren't paid enough.
"This Government is all about making money, they give us an extra dollar on minimum wage but everything else is going up three times that."