​Shared ownership in Queenstown

The Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust expects to begin building 14 homes on a greenfield site near Onslow Rd, bordering Lake Hayes Estate, next June.

The development will be the trust’s first under its “Secure Home” programme, which is based on successful schemes in Whistler, Colorado, and elsewhere.

The trust’s executive officer, Julie Scott, said it would design and build the homes before selling them to eligible households on its waiting list.

The homeowners would lease the land underneath their homes from the trust in perpetuity, paying rent of about $6000 a year.

The rental would provide a “very low return” on the land from the trust’s perspective, but would enable the homeowners to buy the homes with a mortgage that was affordable.

“We don’t want them spending more than 35% of their gross income on mortgage repayments and the lease.”

In the future, the homes could only be bought and sold in a controlled market where any increases in value were limited to the rate of inflation.

Ms Scott said the homes were likely to be a mixture of duplexes and stand-alone dwellings.

“We hope to finalise details of the programme in the New Year and get people signed up to them early next year.

Read more of the news item here, and the report can be downloaded here:

Mayoral Housing Afforability Report – October 2017.pdf