Westfield Holdings has shifted 85 staff out of level three of the Downtown Shopping Centre in Auckland's CBD.
Westfield has moved across town to its own building, the former Mercury Energy headquarters on the corner of Remuera Rd and Nuffield St.
This is the 60,000 sq m development site which Westfield is expected to announce plans for in the next few days.
All staff except the Downtown Shopping Centre management have moved to Newmarket.
Level two of Downtown remains the headquarters of listed St Lukes Group. Westfield is making a $570 million bid for St Lukes which will see the rise of a $7 billion property company with 39 shopping centres.
However, Westfield faces competition from an Asian developer literally across the road in Newmarket, raising the question of whether too many new shopping centres are planned.
Singaporean Denis Jen is expanding his 277 Shopping Centre and has bought all the land around it for a Broadway development. This is directly opposite Westfield's site. Confidence hit
Declining confidence has hit the property sector, hard on the heels of this week's announcement that Waltus Investments will restructure its $643 million portfolio.
Massey University's property outlook survey found confidence down in all four sectors - commercial, industrial, retail and apartments - among respondents, who were asked about sales and rental price changes, volume of sales and leasing.
Confidence in new office developments and industrial is the lowest it has been for four years.
The survey was carried out before the Budget, but a majority of the respondents still said the new Labour-Alliance Government was bad for property.
Auckland's office and apartment sectors are predicted to decline during the next three months in both price and the volume of sales and leasings.
Oaks spread
Confidence in North Shore housing subdivisions remains high.
Marketing is under way for a 97-lot Albany residential development, offering house sites ranging from 600 sq m to 1000 sq m.
A fifth of The Oaks subdivision, near the North Shore Golf Club, will be set aside as reserve.
The company behind the subdivision is Melbourne's Wilbow Corporation, which has developed properties in Australia and the United States.
Its other North Shore developments include The Palms on Caribbean Drive and Bayside on Crestview Place.
Location crucial
Real estate agents are consuming one another.
Around the same time that Real is launched, the mighty Century 21, with 62 offices throughout New Zealand, has swallowed the much smaller, northern-based Allens Group, which has just 16 offices - 14 in Auckland, one in Taupo and one in Whangarei.
Part of the motivation behind Century 21's carnivorous activity is the chance to have a larger presence in Auckland. It had only 14 offices in the Queen City, but managing director Bill Sinclair said the purchase would double the number of Century 21 salespeople in Auckland.
Branch sale
WestpacTrust is auctioning 33 branches for as little as $60,000 each. The bank leases 70 per cent of its branch properties but the latest offerings will take that up to 80 per cent. Auctions will be held in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch early next month.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.
Latest from Property
Train station with a twist: Surprising home aims for $1m-plus buyer
Replica of original Omakau station comes with man cave and mod cons.