Property News | propertynoise.co.nz

• Auckland rents for all residential properties are not rising as fast as the national figure and are well below Wellington’s rises, according to a Trade Me index.

But one category of Auckland property is proving extremely popular, rising at just over 13 per cent annually.

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Trade Me has released national property rental data

• A Ponsonby real estate agent has admitted three more charges, including deception, after earlier pleading guilty to methamphetamine-related crimes.

Samuel James Clough, 28, pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court today to obtaining by deception, driving while disqualified and breaching his bail.

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Samuel Clough pleaded guilty in the Auckland District Court today to three further charges. Photo / Supplied

• A real estate agent who faces up to seven years in jail if convicted over two property deals in which investigators say he personally benefited by more than $850,000 will go on trial today.

Former Barfoot & Thompson agent Aaron Hughes denies the charges.

Charges laid against Hughes last year allege he obtained a valuation showing a property he was selling in Mt Wellington, Auckland, was worth at least $1.2 million.

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Former Barfoot & Thompson real estate agent Aaron Hughes. Photo / Supplied

• We bought a house last week. We bought because our rental will be sold and we want stability for our family.

But the price for that stability is very high.

In our book, Generation Rent, Selena and I were careful to point out that we chose to rent both for lifestyle reasons and for financial reasons.

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• Plans have been unveiled for a 10-level commercial and residential development that will tower over downtown Tauranga – and comprise two levels of retail space, five levels of office space, and three top levels of high-end apartments.

The property at 2 Devonport Rd (previously the Westpac Building) is currently the headquarters of Tauranga City Council.

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Craigs House is a planned major 10 level commercial building for downtown Tauranga – artist’s impression

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• There seem to have been a lot of burglaries in my neighbourhood lately and I’m nervous about strangers coming to the house for open homes when we put it on the market. What can we do to make sure it’s safe?

It’s completely natural to feel a little anxious before viewings or open homes – you want your property to look attractive to potential buyers, but not so appealing that they start helping themselves to your belongings.

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• A heavily mortgaged $1.75m home shared by convicted fraudster Sir Ngatata Love and his former partner Lorraine Skiffington is to be sold after a sale order sought by police was upheld.

Police are now able to sell the house, in Plimmerton, under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act.

Love, 79, former head of the Maori landowning Wellington Tenths Trust, is currently serving a 2½-year jail sentence for obtaining by deception. His appeal against conviction and sentence was dismissed in June.

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• No-quarter has been given to a pair of real estate agents by a High Court judge after they illegally turned a house into three flats.

In 2016, Auckland Council charged Qianli Ma (also known as Charlie Ma) and Yao Lu (also known as Elaine Lu) who converted a single family home into three separate flats to rent without building consent.

Ma and Lu plead guilty at Auckland District Court to three charges each of carrying out building work without the required building consent, each paying $7500 in fines.

But ahead of their annual real estate agent license renewal the pair went to the High Court hoping it would overturn the convictions.

READ MORE:
* Poo mailing realtor wants license back
* Realtor fined $5k for failing to reveal defects
* Lotto winner wins $4k fine against realtor

• The Reserve Bank’s lending restrictions appear to be having the desired impact on the New Zealand property market with average asking prices taking a dive on a month ago, according to the latest Trade Me Property Price Index.

Head of Trade Me Property Nigel Jeffries said the average asking price of the typical New Zealand property dropped 1.2 per cent in June to $632,850. “The Loan to Value Restrictions (LVRs) seem to be doing the trick, with the average asking price down for the second month in a row and it’s not looking like it’s heading up any time soon, and certainly not at the pace we’ve got used to.

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SOURCE: Trade Me Property