Shortage of sections throttling Alexandra

Cromwell builder Jake Heremaia pieces together a new home in The Pines subdivision.

By all accounts, Alexandra is experiencing a boom residential construction period.

Subdivisions on the outskirts of town such as The Pines and Molyneux estate are filled with contractors building new homes, and almost all the sections have been snapped up.

However, LJ Hooker Alexandra principal Elaine Schuck fears the town's growth could be stunted and builders and "tradies'' say there could be a building slump because of the shortage of sections.

"We want the town to grow and we want people to come to the area.

"Even in the last week it's been crazy. Multiple offers on almost everything. We're still seeing a flow-on effect from Queenstown and Wanaka.''

The average empty section in The Pines was now priced well over $200,000, while a year to 18 months ago they were selling for $140,000 to $160,000, she said.

As for available sections, "there's just nothing there. There's some on-selling, but very few.''

This made what was available much more expensive, she said.

"If there are no more sections, it's going to have an impact on all the tradies. All of a sudden that building boom is not going to be happening.''

Alexandra building contractor Toby Armour said there would be a crash in the industry without new sections.

"Everybody's in a rush to build their new houses. A lot of contractors have come from out of town to fill that demand. We've got builders that are taking on extra staff.''

The Central Otago District Council needed to release land, which was partly a zoning issue, he said.

"Eighty percent of our work is in the subdivisions, because people want those smaller residential sections.

"This is all going to start crashing down unless the council can open up more sections and we can get some continuity in what's going on.''

In the last 18 months the company's sales had trebled.

"We're starting to plateau a bit. We've got about six or eight months of work ahead of us, but then we've got people coming through the door asking for land and house packages and we've got nothing.

"We're going to end up with builders, plumbers and electricians all of a sudden going to have to offload guys.''

Laser Plumbing co-director Pete Smith said there was a lot of talk in the industry about what would happen in a year.

"We're lucky because we can do a bit of work in Cromwell when it dries up here. It's certainly a shame the way Alex is moving, because there doesn't seem to be anything in the pipeline.''

In the last year demand had ballooned and the company had to turn down work, he said.
It is understood a Cromwell developer has land which can be released as sections in the north of the town. He could not be contacted yesterday.

Central Otago Mayor Tim Cadogan said he, the council and the Vincent Community Board (VCB) were well aware of the shortage of sections in the town.

"This has come about following an unprecedented boom in development in the town.''

In response to the shortage, the community board released some Crown-owned land it managed between Molyneux Estate and the Alexandra golf course back to the Crown, so it could be sold.

However, the mayor acknowledged handing back control meant the council and community board had no control over the land's future now.

In addition, next month the community board will consider whether to use other council freehold land already zoned residential for residential sections.

"This is the only land the VCB actually owns that can, at this stage, be utilised.''

A further hope for residential sections was the rezoning of land in the council's district plan review, which has to be finalised next year.

Mr Smith said even if there was action, it was too late to avoid a lull.
"These things take a long time. A subdivision can take years to plan.''

jono.edwards@odt.co.nz