New Zealand luxury retreats win international accolades

Three NZ luxury retreats have picked up prestigious international tourism awards.

Takaro Lodge was voted New Zealand’s leading spa resort in prestigious 2008 World Travel Awards, judged by travel agents from around the globe, while the award for the country’s leading luxury lodge was picked up by Lake Okareka Lodge in Rotarua.

The latter pipped luxury hotel retreat, Solitaire Lodge (which last year was voted the best resort in the whole of Australasia) to the finishing post. This year, the romantic Lilianfels hotel, tucked away in Australia’s Blue Mountains was awarded the ultimate accolade.

Two further New Zealand lodges - Martinborough’s Wharekauhau Country Estate, and Rotorua’s Treetops Lodge and Wilderness Experience – also recently gained.international honours in the Condé Nast (USA) Traveler Readers Choice Awards 2008. Iconic Wharekauhau Country Estate was ranked in the ‘Top 5 Resorts in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific’, while Treetops was listed in the ‘Top 5 Australia and Pacific Hotels’ category.
The awards are based on the results of more than 32,000 questionnaires submitted by readers of Condé Nast Traveler. Results are based on the quality of activities, facilities, food and dining, overall design, rooms and service.

Takaro Lodge

Also known as Takaro Peace Resort, this exclusive luxury spa resort is located near Te Anau, New Zealand, on a 2000 acre private estates, that formed one of the film locations in Lord of the Rings. It is “located in mystical Fiordland, surrounded by evergreen forest, crystal clear water, fresh air and untouched nature, far away from cities and pollution”. Its 10 ‘element’ apartments are decorated according to the five Chinese elements – wood, fire, earth, metal and water – designed to calm guests, improve mood and strengthen energy levels. And the luxury chalets also adhere to the principles of Feng Shui to ensure that “guests rest deeply and wake totally rejuvenated”.

Lake Okareka Lodge

Nestled on a secluded peninsula, Lake Okareka Lodge rests in splendid harmony with nature and its stunning surroundings – sheltered in calm waters on private sandy beaches – and every breathtakingly picturesque view is framed in native stone, natural timber and beautifully landscaped flora and fauna.

Wharekauhau Country Estate

Wharekauhau Country Estate is situated on a 5,000 acre working sheep station in the Martinborough wine-growing region of the southern North Island. Set between mountain ranges and the dramatic southern coastline, it is within easy reach of Wellington.

Treetops Lodge

Treetops Lodge, in the thermal region of Rotorua, is an example of environmentally sustainable luxury hospitality in a vast wilderness setting that includes ancient forests, seven streams, four lakes and 70km of trails.

Source: NZ Herald

Friday Nov 14, 2008

House prices in Auckland and nationally are up and agents say a rosier picture of the market is finally beginning to emerge.

Auckland prices rose from a median $420,000 in September to $433,000 last month and the national median nudged up from $330,000 to $335,000.

Real Estate Institute figures out yesterday showed price rises in five out of the 12 regions surveyed nationally. But the country’s national median price is still well under the $350,000 reached in October last year.

Agents selling houses in Northland, Taranaki, Hawkes Bay, Wellington and Southland all enjoyed better prices last month than in September.

“Despite all the negative stuff and people talking about a 30 per cent price drop, this is really good,” said institute vice-president Peter McDonald.

Most Auckland suburban areas showed big price rises.

Waitakere’s median rose from $360,000 in September to $390,000 on the back of 173 sales last month.

Manukau’s was up from $397,000 to $416,000 based on 281 sales.

Papakura recorded 50 sales last month and its median price rose from $293,000 to $301,000.

Agents selling places in the Auckland City Council boundaries recorded 465 sales and a median price rise from $450,000 to $472,000. Sales in the Franklin area pushed up the median from $365,000 in September to $367,000.

North Shore bucked the trend. Based on 249 sales last month, prices dropped from $445,000 to $420,000.

Agents in Rodney district made 97 sales but this area’s median dropped from $440,000 in September to $435,000.

ASB economist Jane Turner said the housing data showed mixed results. “While turnover remains weak at very low levels, the median house price and the median number of days to sell showed some slight improvement.

“Typically, we avoid reading too much into monthly moves in house prices, as the sample is subject to compositional shift.

“However, surprisingly, the median number of days to sell also implied some improvement in the housing market, falling from 56 to 51.

“The number of days to sell is generally a fairly reliable barometer of the balance between supply and demand in the housing market, and the fall is consistent with an improvement in prices.”

10 November, 2008

Real estate experts are saying that there is no better time to buy property than right now. Prices have dropped, mortgage rates are down and there are some bargains out there.

More and more buyers are searching the web to buy and one of New Zealand’s leading real estate websites has one of the most comprehensive portfolios of listings of properties of any website in the country.

Every month there are over 270,000 hits and over 111,000 listings, but just what are the most popular areas that buyers have been looking for property in across the country?

“One would assume the most active suburbs would be the elitist suburbs, the most expensive suburbs,” Alistair Helm said. “But what we found was it was guineen interest and that speaks to people using the website who are actively looking for property.”

The fifth most popular suburb is Westmere in Auckland, which is a sought-after inner city suburb where older people are moving out and the younger generation moving in.

The proximity to the CBD is the most appealing element of it. As Auckland grows it makes it an attractive area.

Average sale price in the last six months according to quotable value is $803,676.

The fourth most popular suburb for buyers looking for property is Maori Hill in Dunedin, which is an affluent suburb that features some of the city’s largest and most established homes, along with some of the city’s most breathtaking views.

The average price for a home in Maori Hill $417,375.

Cashmere Hills which overlooks Christchurch, is another established suburb with older-style large homes and home to many professionals.

The average sale price for a house in the Cashmere Hills is $572,983.

The second most popular suburb for buyers is Dunedin’s St Clair, which is a lifestyle suburb by the sea with views over the city.

A house in St Clair would set a buyer back around $344,738.

The number one suburb in New Zealand for home buyers is Dallington in Christchurch. The suburb is close to the city centre and sits near the Avon River. The housing are mostly Bugalows and are affordable for many families with an average price of $317,038.

31 October 2008

More people than ever are renting homes and they’re doing so for longer periods at different stages of their lives, says Jeff Montgomery of the Department of Building & Housing (DBH).
For this reason, there will always be a need in the private sector for private landlords, he says. “There will continue to be demand for rental properties. Demand has increased and no-one is suggesting it won’t continue.”

The biggest growth in rental properties has come, not from the public sector, but “from Ma and Pa investors, those who own one or two or three properties”.

Montgomery says these private investors play an important role in offering homes. And there’s a need to put effort into ensuring landlords, especially accidental landlords, brought about by the current economic circumstances, understand the obligations that tenancy brings.

However, Montgomery says the increase in demand for rentals is less about the economic environment than part of an international trend.

“For various reasons, there has been an increase over a number of years in the proportion of people renting. Around one in three live in a rented home.” This has been gradually increasing for the last 10 years due to:

• desire for more flexible arrangements for work
• the affordability issue – it takes longer to be able to afford to buy
• immigration – people come to New Zealand and move into a rental environment then later move into their own homes

Montgomery says people are renting for longer and more people are renting in their 30s, 40s and 50s. He says, when many people think of renters they have [student-like] flats in mind. “But the growth has been in ‘older’ people choosing to rent. They may own a home but they’re just not living in it. There’s a need for quality rental properties for these people.”

23 October 2008

Source: NZ Herald

Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard has done what most expected this morning and cut the Official Cash Rate by a full one percentage point to 6.5 per cent.

This is the steepest cut since the OCR was introduced in March 1999 and a response to the gravity of the international credit crisis.

Inflation currently is running at 5.1 per cent - a rate not seen for 18 years, but Bollard’s usual concern with inflation has been replaced by a much bigger concern - the impact of the global financial crisis.

Since Bollard surprised the market with a 50-basis-point cut in the OCR six weeks ago, what was a credit crunch has turned in a full-blown global crisis.

Oil price have fallen considerably since then, with most economists expecting inflation to have peaked. Today’s cut is an attempt to kick-start the economy, by freeing up the money supply.

The Reserve Bank is required to keep inflation within 1-3 per cent over the medium term, and expects high inflation pressures to ease rapidly among slowing local and global economies.

The official cash rate had been held at 8.25 per cent for a year until easing started in late July.

Bollard is likely to have been cutting rates this month anyway, but the global crisis meant that last time he cut by 50 basis points - more than most expected and today by such a large amount. He says he has “plenty of room” to cut.

Whether the trading banks move quickly to cut their mortgage rates is yet to be seen. Despite the unexpectedly big 50 basis point cut six weeks ago, there has not been much movement on mortgage rates.

October 2008

The World of Wearable Art Show puts New Zealand on the global fashion map

Audiences at Wellington’s 20th World of Wearable Art (WOW) awards show, which runs until October 5, were dazzled by some of the fabulous concoctions on offer.

The show mesmerised crowds with 189 garments from around the world, displayed in an extravaganza of acrobatics, dance, comedy, pyrotechnics and a menagerie of stunning white birds.

The event has turned Wellington into a hub for international design, with contestants from as far afield as the UK, the USA, India, Japan, Thailand, Germany, The Netherlands, Israel, Fiji and Canada attracted by the reputation of the event and the $NZ 100,000 prize money on offer.

“The success of WOW has always been dependent on new designers participating and we’ve spent considerable time traveling to The USA, Asia, and Australia to encourage fresh entrants,” explains Suzie Moncrieff, the show’s Founder and Director.  “We’re delighted to see many international entries coming in.”

Contestants are challenged to create something unique, which will have impact on a 40-metre arena stage and can withstand detailed inspection. 35 finalists are selected from approximately 300 global entries every year and the competition is fierce.  The ideas behind the entries are as varied as the countries they come from.

Incredible Creations

The Supreme Montana WOW Award winner went to Nadine Jaggi for her intricate garment Ornitho Maia (bird mother).  The Wellington costume technician had to do unimaginable things to leather: wet mould, emboss, carve, hand-dye and hand-sew it to achieve her highly crafted effect, and describes the idea as, “An ethereal protector of the beautiful feathered creatures of our world.”  Ornitho Maia was also winner of the Air New Zealand South Pacific Section.

WOW judge and corrugated iron artist Jeff Thomson said “It’s exhilarating how people can be so creative when they limit themselves to one material; Nadine has stretched her imagination and created something that enters another dimension”.

In the HP Children’s section ‘Reinterpret the Tutu’ youngsters twirled in costumes made out of lego, pine cones, paintbrushes, barbie dolls, used tea bags, hamburgers and chips, balloons, birds nests and a make-believe stingray.

Men in 1930’s suits served up chickens, geese, parrots and doves on trays, as models pranced through the American Express Open section to a backdrop of blossoming imagery, as life-size birds created by Universal Studios costume maker and first-time WOW entrant, Sean Purucker capered around the stage.

Pink parachuting bras delighted the audience in the opening of the Shell Bizarre Bra section amongst 1950s dancers, air force regalia and Wellington’s Beat Girls.  Bras with propellers, wine barrels, purses, guns, handcuffs, lotto balls, boxing gloves, cockroaches, jack-in-the-boxes and a zimmer frame, ensured the 20th Montana WOW Awards Show ended on an uplifting peak.

Green Design

Recycling was big this year too. The Tourism New Zealand Avant Garde section stunned the crowd with burlesque trapeze artists, nuns on roller blades, girls on ladders with giant cocktail umbrellas, and a circus performer balancing on a tower of chairs.  Decadent garments were made from Tchaikovsky’s sheet music, names of Titanic survivors, 2000 black labels from Berlin, human hair from the UK, and recycled shoes from The Netherlands.

And old drinking straws have never been put to a better use; Anat and Ehud Van-Cleef Shamai from Hofit, Israel collected 3500 straws to create their garment, The Spirit Of Africa, which dances in the dark.  “Using the straw as a basic material in our garment is part of our life philosophy to recycle!,” said the team.

Winner of the 2007 Tourism New Zealand Avant Garde Section, David Walker, has created a cheeky garment, ‘No Laughing Matter’, for the Shell Bizarra Bra section,
made out of Jack-In-The-Boxes.  A carpenter by trade, this Alaskan artist has been creating wearable art for eight years.

Over 100 water bottles and an oxygen tent have gone into the construction of Bev
Juno’s avant-garde garment Clear Trash Beautiful. The artist from Sooke, Canada
was challenged to create something that used light and no colour. Her aim is to “Take art off the wall and throw away the frame; allowing it to interact in our daily lives.”

29 September 2008

Icon Group has recently launched a tenancy check service to help landlords vet prospective tenants for both residential and commercial properties.

Icon is one of New Zealands largest privately owned security companies providing a broad range of services including staff vetting & tenant checks.

Staff vetting manager Debbie Schwarz says that for a fee well below the average of one week’s rental on a residential property, Icon will conduct the following checks, and if required will provide a pre-approved application form for landlords to use.

Included in the service are; reference checks with previous landlords or character referees, credit history check, Tenancy Tribunal order checks and a check of the Tenancy Information New Zealand database.

“All checks are fully compliant with New Zealand legislative requirements and will certainly give landlords peace of mind that they are making the right choice with tenants.”

“Whilst property rental is relatively low risk, the consequences of a bad tenant who damages the property or defaults on their rental can be considerable,” she says.

There are professional ‘bad’ tenants who are very good at targeting private landlords. They specifically avoid renting property through real estate agents or property managers knowing that they have access to information that can severely limit their chances of ever renting again, she says.

Source: NZ Herald

5 September, 2008

Wild Earth Wines, a Central Otago winemaker, has been awarded the trophy for Top Red Wine at the International Wine Challenge, the world’s largest competition.

It beat 31 other red wine trophy winners from around the globe in the final judging round, announced on Wednesday night in London.

Wild Earth Wines’ general manager Dave Nicholas said the win was an astounding accomplishment for a winery which was established just 10 years ago.

“It’s great that a New Zealand pinot has beaten the likes of cabernet from the Napa Valley and shiraz from Australia,” he said.

With almost 10,000 wines in contention, the International Wine Challenge is the world’s largest wine competition.

The Wild Earth Pinot Noir 2006 took five trophies in total at the event, including Top International Pinot Noir, Top New Zealand Red Wine and Top International Red Wine.

In May, at the Decanter World Wine Awards - the second largest wine show globally - the Wild Earth Pinot Noir 2006 was awarded the Top New Zealand Pinot Noir trophy and it has previously been awarded Gold Medals in New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

The owners of Wild Earth, Quintin and Avril Quider, are elated with the awards.

“Central Otago produces so many outstanding wines and this latest trophy simply re-emphasises the incredible potential of the wines from our region. The award comes at the perfect moment as we’re currently seeking investment capital for expansion,” they said in a statement.

Nicholas said the awards proved New Zealand could do more than just white wines well.

“The thing with the New Zealand wine industry is that whenever someone does well the whole industry benefits.

“Any New Zealand wine that wins an award helps to put the local industry on the map.”

Established in Bannockburn in 1998, Wild Earth Wines has produced wines under the Wild Earth label since 2004.

Its wines are entirely estate grown, and are available throughout New Zealand and exported to international markets including the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, Europe, China, the United Arab Emirates and Canada.

The trophies awarded to Wild Earth at the International Wine Challenge 2008 are:

* Top International Red Wine
* Top International Pinot Noir
* Top New Zealand Red Wine
* Top New Zealand Pinot Noir
* Top Central Otago Pinot Noir

Source: NZ Herald

24 August, 2008 

International buyers are snatching up New Zealand property as the dollar drops, banks lower interest rates and the market reaches realistic prices.

Alistair Helm of realestate.co.nz says the surge is encouraging for sellers and indicates an “interesting time” in the property market.

Last year 22 per cent of realestate.co.nz’s browsers were from outside New Zealand. This figure crept up to 25 per cent around April and May this year and is now up to 27 per cent, Helm says.

Most of the interested buyers are from Britain, Australia and the United States.

Auckland real estate agent Ross Brader says the properties he listed online started to attract record numbers of international browsers on August 10, when the Kiwi dollar dropped to the lowest level in 11 months.

A three-bedroom Pt Chevalier home going for $799,000 listed on the realestate.co.nz website last week attracted about 2000 views in eight days and half of these were from overseas, including 184 browsers from Britain, 172 from the US and 99 from Australia. “It’s been quite surprising,” Brader says.

His office covers the Western suburbs of Pt Chevalier, Westmere and Grey Lynn, and overseas buyers tell Brader they are attracted to the area’s coastal lifestyle, good amenities and proximity to the city.

Brader says buyers from Britain tell him they are moving to New Zealand for a “better quality of life”.

The weakening British housing market and the current exchange rate have also prompted the decision.

Boutique agent Michael Boulgaris says prices for top-end property in New Zealand are now at realistic levels and this has sparked the surge in international interest.

“Because the American economy is so tough at the moment a lot of people - buyers and investors - are focusing on New Zealand,” Boulgaris says. “The expats are definitely coming back. It is in their best interests to make a move now.”

Over the past month he has seen an offer just short of $5 million from an expat, another interested buyer from Dubai offering $1m for a property he had not yet visited and another $2m offer from a Singapore buyer who had still to see the site.

The number of website browsers is increasing month on month but there has been a notable surge as the New Zealand exchange rate becomes more attractive to overseas buyers, Boulgaris says.

Helm says that overseas buyers are in a good negotiating position because there is a surplus of supply.

“If our dollar begins to drop as it is, then our property begins to look more attractive.”

Median prices may have dropped in Auckland but remain stable across most of the rest of New Zealand. Helm says it seems overseas buyers are motivated by what they want to buy into and for the lifestyle change, rather than what the market is doing.

“They’re not buying a stock or a share, they are buying it for what it is,” he says.

Bayleys real estate held an immigration expo in Johannesburg, South Africa, last month and has since received more than 70 direct inquiries about buying residential and commercial properties in New Zealand.

Managing director Mike Bayley says the interested buyers made comments about feeling comfortable with the New Zealand way of life and culture, particularly the rugby, barbecues and beach lifestyle, and were attracted to the safety of New Zealand’s cities compared to Johannesburg and Cape Town.

“We have also seen a resurgence in commercial property inquiries out of Southeast Asia - particularly Singapore and Hong Kong,” says Bayley.

In July and August, Bayleys held two New Zealand property exhibitions in Singapore to promote residential apartment investments.

Bayley says: “We have seen a resurgence in interest in commercial property out of Asia, which has for the most part been absent for the past six to eight years. Reasons for this include a weakening New Zealand currency, the fact New Zealand is seen as a relatively safe haven among global economic and political uncertainty, our attractive legal and business environment, and an absence of capital gains tax and stamp duty.”

The company is targeting two immigration expos in England in October.

Bayley says the company has a database of about 7000 people who have registered an interest in immigrating to New Zealand, mostly generated from previous immigration expos in Britain.

‘Ecstatic’ to come back

Mother-of-two Bronwyn Carr moved her family to New Zealand from America in June.

Her children are now 9 and 4 and Carr decided it was the right time to move them out of the US, where she had lived for seven years, to be closer to their cousins.

New Zealand’s sliding property market wasn’t a driving factor in the move but it did work in the family’s favour.

“We knew the New Zealand market had been very high and it was dropping like a stone.”

Carr and her Australian husband were looking for a family home to settle in for the next 25 years and they had a set budget.

But Carr says she initially struggled to find homes she liked as only vendors who had to sell had listed their properties, and speculative buyers had chosen to hold on to their properties through the slump.

In the end, Carr did find what she was looking for and put in an offer which was at the top of her range, but less than what the owners had paid two years ago.

Carr says after 13 years abroad she is “ecstatic” to be back and pleased to have bought into the market when she did.

15 August, 2008 

Karori Sanctuary, one of New Zealand’s leading conservation tourism attractions, has won a prestigious conservation tourism award

The Sanctuary won the prestigious DOC Conservation in Action Award at the recent New Zealand Tourism Industry Awards.

Karori Sanctuary by CEO Nancy McIntosh-Ward is delighted with the win.

“This award recognises our contribution to New Zealand’s growing sustainable tourism industry and our achievements in managing the Sanctuary as both a visitor attraction and an internationally-respected ecological restoration project”

Located just 10 minutes drive from downtown Wellington, Karori Sanctuary gives a unique opportunity to engage with endangered native birds and other wildlife. A new Visitor and Education Centre is currently under construction, and due to open in the summer of 2009/10.

The new state-of-the-art Centre will be New Zealand’s first facility dedicated exclusively to our country’s unique natural history and conservation story.

Research indicates that in the first three years of the Centre’s operation, visitors to the Karori Sanctuary will increase almost three-fold from 70,000 to nearly 200,000.

“The Centre’s potential impact on Wellington’s international visitor market is significant. If 30,000 international visitors spent another night here because of the Karori Sanctuary, that would mean another $4.5 million per year being spent in Wellington.”

Positively Wellington Tourism has worked closely with Karori Sanctuary on the designs and plans for the Visitor and Education Centre. A key focus has been how the Centre will deliver a world-class visitor experience, through its design elements and layout.

“We have been excited by what we’ve seen, throughout the planning process,” says Tim. “The Centre will offer a unique visitor experience with its combination of nature, story-telling and interactive technology. I’m confident the Wellington tourism industry and public will be as excited about this Centre as we are.”