In a bid to seriously address the housing crisis, the Government has announced plans to change the Resource Management Act, reducing red tape and allowing for intensification of housing throughout the country. In my view this is a very positive move.
Labour have the support of National with this proposal, which will allow up to three homes of up to three storeys to be built on most sites without the need for a resource consent. This will cut through outdated local zoning rules that are holding many towns and cities back (many of them are stuck in the 1960s, thinking that everyone needs a big back yard).
It is expected that the new rules will facilitate an additional 48,200 to 105,000 new homes to be built over the next 5-8 years.
Will this result in a housing boom in the regions for larger more developable sites? My guess is yes, and I and several GRA members have been tanking up on land in smaller centres in anticipation of this. I think there is still value in these areas on larger sites, before the market works out the implications of this information. So, readers might profit from taking action on this information sooner than later.
GRA held an RMA changes webinar on 4 November, and you can view the recording here.
While Labour deserves some praise for working with the very commercial people in National on this new policy, I think they should go even further and spread the Auckland Unitary Plan rules across the entire country.
Hi Salesh, I just wanted to send you an email on behalf of GRA to say how fantastic we have found your company to date. As you know, Ben and I joined GRA a couple of months ago and have just found you so amazingly helpful in getting our new property set up correctly and sorted out. We have what I would consider a rather complicated structure as a result and it’s a fantastic feeling to know that we are getting everything done in the best way possible. We have just had approval to put a minor dwelling on the property which will make a massive difference in terms of cash flow and obviously value, something we would never have even thought of without GRA and which we are very excited about. During the buying process we attended a seminar with Matthew and from the outset thought he was fab. We therein signed up for property school and found this nothing short of fantastic. The content was relevant, up to date and comprehensive, but more importantly it was taught in a way that we could actually understand and really get value out of. I wanted to mention also, that everybody GRA have recommended to us has been just so efficient and absolute masters at what they do. A wonderful network of people that we feel very lucky to now be able to call on. From Kris Pederson and Bryan Rist who put our mortgage together to the insurance guys they then referred us to, I’m super impressed. Within GRA, Ellery has probably turned things around for us faster than I’ve ever known before, something which we appreciated so very much when it came to crunch time. She’s always a pleasure to deal with and again, we’re stoked. We’ve just settled on the property today and are about to go and get the keys. I’m pretty pumped and hence this email is probably rather excitable. So, a massive thank you to you Salesh, the partners for such a fabulous 6 weeks at property school and everyone at GRA for their help. May this be the start of our property empire. Thanks again, - A & B - July 2015
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