Affordable housing development agreement signed

The Government has signed a development agreement for the construction of 237 homes as part of its affordable housing project on an 11.5-hectare Crown-owned site in Christchurch, Building and Housing Minister Dr Nick Smith announced today.

“Today’s agreement marks another encouraging step forward for the Awatea Housing Development. I announced in October that Fletcher Residential had been chosen as the Government’s private sector partner for this project. Today’s signing formalises our plans for the site and allows construction to commence, and for Fletcher Residential to begin its work redeveloping the site,” Dr Smith says.

“This project will offer a mix of new homes that are more affordable than typical market offerings in Christchurch and will be available at a range of prices. It is a reflection of the Government’s answer to the city’s housing challenge, which is increased supply with a particular focus on new homes priced for those on modest incomes.”

The Awatea Housing Development will deliver 237 new homes, of which 89 will be at a purchase price of less than $400,000. Fifty of these will involve shared equity ownership with the New Zealand Housing Foundation to assist families into home ownership who would otherwise be unable to achieve this goal.

The first homes at the development expected to be completed in the first half of 2015. Approximately 10 homes are expected to be built per month over a two-year period, with the development fully complete by 2017.

“Fletcher Residential has been liaising with the local community, neighbours and other key stakeholders and has already had interest from local people wanting to buy houses in the new development. Many prospective buyers at Awatea will be also be able to take advantage of the Government’s new HomeStart scheme, which will provide grants of up to $20,000 for KiwiSavers buying their first home under a price cap in Christchurch of $450,000 from 1 April next year.

“The Awatea Housing Development is part of the Housing Accord signed in September with the Christchurch City Council. I will be announcing the progress made on other Christchurch Housing Accord developments at Colombo Street and Welles Street in the new year.

“We are seeing real momentum in the Christchurch residential rebuild, with new home building consents at over 400 a month, or 4099 over the past year. This is double the rate of last year and twice the long-term historic average. New initiatives like Awatea are needed to maintain this growth and restore the city’s housing stock as quickly as possible,” Dr Smith concluded.

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