Queenstown the $32b district: Property values double in three years

Queenstown property values have soared in recent years. Photo / Google Maps

Queenstown Lakes is now a $32 billion district.

The Queenstown Lakes District Council yesterday released figures from the most recent revaluation of all properties in the area, carried out on July 1 by Quotable Value.

They show the total capital value of properties in the district has almost doubled in three years.

As of July 1, the rateable value of the 25,059 properties is now $32,120,192,000. The land value is $19,012,419,000.

In 2014 there were 23,213 rateable properties - 1846 fewer - and their total capital value was $18.83b.

Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult said for property owners the most recent valuations were likely to come as a "pleasant surprise".

However, for those struggling to get on to the property ladder "it's just more bad news".

Rating valuations are done for all properties in New Zealand, usually once every three years, and used to help councils set rates for the next three years.

Valuations are one of several factors used to allocate rates and reflect the likely sale price of a propertyat the revaluation date.

Despite residential development across the district in the past three years - including the introduction of special housing areas - the housing market remains buoyant and rating valuations keep rising.

Outlying towns, including Glenorchy, Kingston, Albert Town and Lake Hawea, were all reaping benefits from the residential shortages in Queenstown and Wanaka. Demand for lifestyle properties district-wide was also steady.

Council communications and engagement manager Naell Crosby-Roe said high demand for residential property had fuelled price increases and rental housing shortages were also keeping rents high.

"The biggest percentage increase has been for housing at the lower or entry level to the residential market," he said.

Boult said that was one of the reasons the work of the Mayoral Taskforce on housing, announced in April, was "so vitally important".

"[It] just further underscores the need to do something for ordinary folk who want to live in the district and work in the district to assist them to get into a house they can afford, without having to put themselves under enormous financial pressure."

Boult said the 20-strong taskforce was "very close" to releasing a report to the council with recommendations.

"My hope is that will actually get to our October meeting."

In August, taskforce chairman John MacDonald said a range of options was being explored, including an affordable ownership model of trust-held land being leased to the homeowner for a nominal rent, and non-bank lending arrangements through investors, whereby households could buy property with lower deposits and share in any market rise after a set period of time.

The latest QV figures showed the average capital value for an improved rural and lifestyle property in the district had increased by 42.6 per cent to $2,532,000 since 2014 and the corresponding average land value for a lifestyle property had risen 58.8 per cent to $1,265,000.

The value of commercial and industrial properties had also increased. The average capital value for developed commercial property had increased 53.7 per cent and developed industrial property by 53.3 per cent in the past three years.

New rating values were being posted to all property owners in the district. They have until November 10 to object. New council rates take effect from July 1, 2018.