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October, 2019 Workers have broken ground on the installation of the new six-seatExpress Sugar Bowl Chairlift at The Remarkables Ski Area in Queenstown late this month. Part of a $17 million project, The Doppelmayr D-line high-speed chairlift is the first of its kind in New Zealand bringing a new generation of chairlift design and technology to the countrys ski industry. The Remarkables Ski Area manager Ross Lawrence says hes excited the project is underway and that guests will be able to take advantage of new terrain and faster laps next season. Weve moved the location of the Sugar Bowl lift creating a new pathway up the mountain and opening up access to 2.5kms of brand- new trails and the existing terrain parks. The new lift will take guests from the base area and drop them off at the top of the terrain parks in just four minutes. It will also open a range of new terrain within the ski area that was previously tricky to access. Its a whole new side of the mountain to explore. NZSki chief executive Paul Anderson says the lift is coming at the perfect time after record numbers at The Remarkables this year. This development is another step in our plans to keep up with demand and growth, and a key milestone in our ongoing commitment to offer world-class facilities for our guests. The Remarkables scheduled opening date for next season is June 6, 2020. Early-bird 3 peak season passes were on sale for $699 until midnight, October 31, 2019. Fast facts: " Doppelmayr D-Line highspeed 6x seater chairlift " Vertical rise of 258 metres " Four minute ride from bottom to top " Capacity to carry 2,400 passengers per hour " 2.5km of new trails " 28 new snow making guns and lances " The old Sugar chairlift will be removed, and re-vegetation work will be done to rehabilitate the landscape POPULAR QUEENSTOWN SUBDIVISION FULL A final milestones been reached in the development of Queenstowns massive Shotover Country subdivision. The last of its 810 residential lots went unconditional this month. Its a major achievement for principal developers Sharyn and Grant Stalker, whose main aim was to fill pent-up demand for locals, particularly families, to get their feet on the property ladder. That demand was proven time and again by how quickly various stages sold out. Remarkably, however, it took the couple five years to rezone their 202 hectares from rural to residential. Theyre indebted to lawyer Warwick Goldsmith and planner/surveyor Neil McDonald for their help in getting the plan change through. They believed in the project when the council didnt support it, Grant says. Four months after the plan change became operative in December, 2012, the first titles were issued. The average section sale price then was $158,000, compared to $420,000 now, giving early buyers, in particular, good capital gains houses now routinely sell for about $1 million. Grant says the market, in the form of resales, effectively set successive price levels for the 20-plus stages. Section sizes ranged, mostly, from 450 square metres to 960sqm. Unusually, the entire subdivision was sold by the developers themselves. Sharyn says they quizzed all prospective buyers about their circumstances and their intentions to build land investors were ruled out. Their guess is that 80 per cent of sections have been bought by prospective owner-occupiers, and the balance by investors whove built rentals. Grants surprised how many buyers have added one- or two-bedroom granny flats, which theyve rented out to assist their mortgage repayments. Airbnb, on the other hand, isnt allowed in the later stages of Shotover Country. One of the biggest buying triggers, the couple believe, has been Shotover Primary School, which they lobbied hard for. Its become a community hub and its rapid growth has been exciting to see, Sharyn says. The Stalkers personally helped the school over its first five years, and Sharyn still supports its music room, called Sharis Music Suite. They also gifted three hectares of reserve land which has been developed into a multi-purpose sportsfield for school and community use. Sharyns also played a major role in landscaping the subdivision, and with ongoing maintenance, even if its now councils responsibility. As part of the plan change, land was also gifted for a 44-home affordable housing development undertaken by the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust. Shotover Country still has land set aside for commercial and medium- density unit development, which the Stalkers son Kristan will start next year its in the final stages of the consenting process, Grant says. The couple earlier called for expressions of interest for a commercial development, but they found limited demand, possibly due to the volume of activity on the Frankton Flats. We appreciate the people and families who took advantage of opportunity, risk and rewards to purchase Shotover Country lots and helped make the community it is today, the Stalkers say. We are only sorry we couldnt meet the demand of all interested parties, as the numbers on our database continued to grow. Source: Mountain Scene HOMES NEEDED FASTER AND CHEAPER QUEENSTOWN CONFERENCE ASBs chief economist says the country needs to focus on how we build houses to make them more affordable long-term. Speaking to delegates at the 2019 Architectural Design New Zealand conference in Queenstown on Friday, Nick Tuffley said the need to build homes faster, more effectively and cheaper remains very, very strong. Its one of the things, I think, under the new Government we are seeing a lot more of a push into being a lot more open, a lot more innovative in trying to figure out how we can support ways of building smarter and cheaper. But when were looking long-term, how do we make housing more affordable? Theres a lot of structural changes that weve started looking at harder, but we need to focus on going forward around how we build. Other issues to be examined in closer detail included zoning, land-use regulations and red tape, he says. We probably do need to have a look at our regulation and also the length of time it can take to get projects through, because uncertainty means risk. Tuffley expects population growth through immigration to hold up over a good year and slow, gradually, over time. That means the country still needs to meet the housing needs of a fairly fast-growing population. New Zealands also entering new, unknown, territory where the official cash rates now down to 1% and expected to fall to 0.5% by early next year. Thats caused substantial falls in floating and fixed-term interest rates, which has changed affordability for households. Mortgage rates were about 3.5% the lowest since at least the early 60s the effective mortgage rate has dropped like a stone and the collective amount of income going towards servicing mortgages is really, really low. From a financial perspective, housing affordability has been getting a little bit better recently and thats because of these dramatic drops in interest rates. We do think with interest rates falling we will get a little bit of a second wind in the housing market, or a third or a fourth wind in some markets. He expects the Wellington market to pick up and Hawkes Bay, Dunedin and Southland to continue the strong run, and Auckland might have some price lifts, which is a catch 22 for affordability. We want prices to be going up at a slower pace than peoples incomes so that their incomes can buy a bigger house, or buy & a house. Affordability is changing because house prices have been flat to down and incomes have been creeping up. Were in an environment where, from a financial point of view, its getting slightly easier to afford a house, much of that because house prices have stopped galloping up, but also because interest rates have fallen and are likely to remain down for some time as well. Source: Otago Daily Times
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