Property round-up

There has been a new law passed in the hopes of making management of apartment blocks easier and the number of unsold houses on the market is now backed up to over a year's worth.

Tuesday, April 6th 2010, 12:00AM

by The Landlord

New law for apartment blocks passed
A new law passed last week will see the creation and management of developments such as apartment blocks more streamlined.

The Unit Titles Act 2010 was passed in Parliament on April 1 and will see body corporates able to make decisions based on 75% agreement rather 100% unanimity.

"Under the old act, body corporates need unanimous agreement to undertake any maintenance or repairs on buildings," says Building and Construction Minister Maurice Williamson.

"That might have been appropriate when apartment buildings only had half a dozen units but is too restrictive in a building with 100 units or more."

He says the act was updated from the previous almost 40-year-old act because of the changes building development and property management has gone under during that time.

Williamson also says the act is a small but integral part of a package of solutions the government is looking at for those people living in leaky apartment buildings.

"This new act includes provisions that lower voting thresholds, clarify ownership of common property and give the body corporate wider responsibilities for repair and maintenance of the building.

To find out the most significant changes, click here.

Number of unsold houses rising
There is currently more than a year's worth of unsold property sitting on the market, according to Realestate.co.nz.

In its latest NZ Property Report, Realestate.co.nz said there were 14,408 new listings added to the market in March, slightly down from February, but sales remain static and the number of unsold houses has grown to 55,623.

The report says the over 50% rise in unsold listings in the past three months has been fuelled by the high number of listings and slow sales statistics.

"As a result, the inventory level of unsold houses, as measured by the number of weeks of sales necessary to clear properties on the market, has extended beyond the one-year mark to 53 weeks," Realestate.co.nz CEO Alistair Helm says.

"In December, the inventory level was 34.3 weeks, so that's a 54% increase in three months."

He believes despite it being a sellers market, sellers still appear to be in denial in terms of price, with asking prices rising to only 1% below market peak in October 2007.

"To secure a sale in this environment sellers need to be flexible on the prices they are asking," Helm says.

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