New Subdivisions in Auckland

The opportunities and the limitations.

Property Subdivision in a nut shell is the process of dividing land or sections of it into smaller parts that make them easier to sell or carryout development work on. The land thus divided and worked upon is more often called a development, or project or sometimes even a gated community with a charming name. They are all subdivisions none the less.

Subdividing land works at various levels. A private land owner could decide that his or her land is big enough to be parcelled into smaller bits. The said land owner could then sell part or parts of it, build new premises on it or divide it up among the kids. Such New Home Subdivisions then become separate entities with their own title, address, unique access point, utility services and taxes.

Subdivisions happen on a far grander scale too. The Auckland Council’s recent report on available land for residential purposes states that there are just about 1900 vacant plots of land already subdivided and ready for building on right now. Subdividing can only take place when the city council has provided bulk utility supplies (clean water, waste water) to the border of the land. To develop the land the investor must have a subdivision plan that includes infrastructure development like roads, and water supply to individual lots. The Auckland Council reckons that it has enough Greenfield land ready to be subdivided into 15,000 new dwelling plots.

http://www.dbh.govt.nz/UserFiles/File/Publications/Sector/pdf/residential-land-available-in-auckland-report.pdf

For a city that foresees a need for 400,000 new dwellings over the next 30 years, these figures don’t add up. And for land owners this is indeed a great opportunity with demand set to sore to dizzy heights. However, what owners can do with their land will come under various restrictions depending on Auckland’s strict zoning parameters as well as the Auckland Council’s Unitary Plan.

Among Auckland’s various zoning restrictions is the Metropolitan Urban Limit (MUL). It defines the border between urban and rural Auckland. By some estimates, land just within the MUL is up to 10 times more expensive than just outside it (Grimes and Liang 2009). The Current price for the most desirable sized plots (350-650m2) within the established urban limit has more than tripled during the decade ending in 2012, A typical plot would go for something like NZ$ 325,000 or so. Land now accounts for around 60% of the cost of an Auckland house, compared to 40% in the rest of the country.

(http://www.productivity.govt.nz/sites/default/files/research-note-mar-13-auckland-mul.pdf)

Even a relatively small plot of land can be subdivided for a healthy sum. Enlist the services of a property subdivision company to find out if your land is feasible.

The rural zones of Auckland come with building restrictions too. New subdivisions in Auckland, especially in the rural regions, will have to comply with the Auckland Council’s Unitary Plan. The restrictions are basically about what kind of dwelling, how many, their size, height and intended population density. Rural Auckland is zoned into five distinct categories.

Rural Production Zone.

Most of Auckland’s rural production and industry is within this zone. With the focus on maintaining this productive capacity, the rural production zone will be the principal zone for donor and receiver sites for transferable rural site subdivisions. Together with boundary adjustments and relocations, this will form the basis of methods to be employed in rural subdivision.

Mixed Rural Zone

Similar to Rural Production Zones, Mixed Rural Zones are however smaller and more contained. These zones are expected to foster rural lifestyle, tourism and production practices on a small scale. Subdivision activities in these areas should focus on widening the diversity of rural uses.

Rural Coastal Zones

For their value to ecology and the beauty of the landscape, the Rural Coastal Zones will have certain restrictions on further development. However the opportunities lay in supporting the coastal environment through recreational activities. Appropriate rural activities are encouraged throughout this zone.

Countryside Living Zone

The principal receiver zone for transferable rural site subdivisions and the only receiving area for transfers created by the protection of ecologically significant or environmentally sensitive areas. Countryside living zones present rural residential lifestyle development opportunities and are typically situated close to urban Auckland or rural and coastal towns. The subdivision process may prove complicated in these areas because of the variety in topography, landscape character and the size of the sites.

Rural Conservation Zone

While this zone will encourage established rural activities, new developments are unlikely to find any support. These zones have been designed and designated to protect and maintain the unique characteristics of rural life. Land owners in these areas will find the scope for subdivision to be narrow and painful.
Apart from these restrictions, land owners would also want to consider limits to the type of activities permitted and building restrictions both for the number of dwelling per site as well as their size.

Refer http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/planspoliciesprojects/plansstrategies/unitaryplan/Documents/Key%20topics%20in%20detail/upkeytopicsrurallanduses.PDF  for the complete list.

Herein lie the opportunities as well as the limits. However it is plain that the property market in Auckland will maintain a healthy state of demand over the coming years. For people with land, a trip to the property subdivider’s office is well worth the trip.

The Trials of Leaky Homes

Jane decided that she would move out of her house. After living in the same roof as her family for twenty years, she decided it was time to leave the nest and learn to soar. She spent months sifting through newspaper after newspaper trying to find a small house that was not too far away from the city hub and was big enough for her. She also wanted to find a house that had a good bathroom because a clean and working bathroom was very important to her.

One day, after two months of searching with no luck whatsoever, her friend, Gene asked if she could come and spend some time with her. Gene talked about a friend of hers who is also living alone in a two bedroom house and asked if she would like to go and take a look at it. Jane who was finding it hard to stay so optimistic all this time suddenly beamed and wanted to go and see how it would work out. So they both went together and met the girl who was living there. Her name was Soraya. Soraya’s house was just perfect. It had a small room that was just right for Jane and a bathroom that was in good working order.

Jane discussed the idea of moving into Soraya’s house. It went well because it was easier to split the cost for the house if Jane moved in. By the next few weeks Jane said adios to her family and was settling in quite comfortably at her new place. Living in a house with another person was a lot of fun for Jane. They shared most things and split certain duties like cooking, washing dishes and cleaning between each other. It was a pretty stable relationship. A couple of months later, as Jane and Soraya were sitting down to have some lunch, they heard loud thumping noises up in the ceiling. It sounded bigger than rats.

A few days later they found out that a cat and a litter of kittens were living inside the ceiling. They had no way of moving the kittens so they just let them be. However, all the movement and thumping inside the ceiling caused a very big leak inside the walls. The wall of Soraya’s room was coming apart. Having a leaky home was not beneficial. Having a leaky home during heavy monsoon season was even worse. The ceiling had cracks on them and each time it rained, Jane thought the house would fall apart. The water would collect and seep into the walls and make its way into Soraya’s room. During particularly heavy rain, the ceilings would drip too. It was the leakiest of leaky homes.

The two housemates called a renovations company and asked them to come take a look. However, they couldn’t do anything about their leaky home until the rains eased away. By this time, mould had begun to grow on the walls. It was so visible and disgusting, that it scared Soraya out of her room for a little while. They began to spray alcohol water at the mould hoping that they could control the mould population. This was working for a while, but the leaky home didn’t let them taste victory for long.

A month passed and the rain began to cease. The leaky home they were living in, was barely getting by. The mould had spread to cover the entire wall and the leak was getting worse and worse. Jane and Soraya decided they would move out for a little while because living in a mouldy house was bad for their allergies and overall health. As soon as the rains began to die down however, they called the company again and told them to come fix the problem. The very next day they were there, doing some heavy duty repairing on a very leaky home.

Optimisation and Popularity

Back in the 1990’s when websites were just becoming popular, there wasn’t a lot of creativity involved with web design. Any at all for that matter. Websites back then were called static html’s. These were highly organised layouts hand coded by specialists that understood the complexities of this new technology. Not anybody could do this. Therefore, the website wasn’t updated on a regular basis and had a fixed layout and information system.

Fast forward to present day. Everything has changed about the internet. Its the most accessible tool available to mankind. Anybody can be a website designer or anything they wish to be. But are we really taking advantage of this fact? Web space has developed to a point were there are thousands and millions of websites available for your viewing pleasure. Sites that contain information, sites with breathtaking photography/illustrations, social media sites and sites that cater only for various businesses/companies.

It seems that quantity gives way to poor quality. This has become the case with web development. Companies haven’t yet realised that everybody else is doing the same thing they are. Every company is paying top dollar and buying ready made web templates and adding random text containing information that isn’t eye catching and simple enough for the viewer to understand.

Yes, it may be easier than hiring a web designer and learning how to update your site from time to time. But is it worth losing potential customers over? Come out of the box for a little while. Ask yourself, what would interest the customer? What makes the customer want to stay on one particular website and look through the entire thing? How can you convey a message? And how do you go about making your site popular?

Being a website designer is one of the most creative of professions. So why not take advantage of this? People gobble up simple but unique and extraordinary things faster than gossip these days. Therefore being different is the new in thing to do. And there are so many ways of doing that. Find a simple message that your company embodies (slogan) and promote it in on your website. Cut down the information contained on your website because sometimes it can be too technical for a potential customer.

Often times a customer clicks on your url and is bombarded with a slew of information that can’t be processed fast enough. Pick out the really important details and word it in a clear and simple method. The only thing you, as the company, should worry about is to make sure the website designer/s you hire doesn't get too carried away. Make sure the layout is as simple and interesting as possible. Use current information. Check that the ‘call to action’ button is on the homepage in an eye-catching position and organise a lot of SEO work.

The layout and content is going to be what makes the viewer decide whether to stay or move on. Make it interesting enough that they stay and read through what you can offer them. Tell them why your company is the one for them. Feed them information on what your job is about and how you go about doing it. Help them understand you. And make regular updates to your website. Making your website popular depends on how well you get your SEO work done.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. All search engines (Yahoo, Google, Bing) have this system in place. It is a system that ranks a website on search results depending on certain keywords. Imagine you type in ‘web design Auckland’ to a google search engine. Google will then show you a list of websites that have been ranked on how many times the website has input these keywords.

Another way of getting your company ‘out there’ is the use of Adwords. Adwords is marketing tool that was created by google. Google advertises your product/company on its site and affiliate sites depending on the amount of keywords you use in that advertisement. This is called a sponsored link and runs on a ‘pay per click’ routine.

Keep in mind that your web site is like a twenty four hour pass into your company. A customer can really evaluate whether you product is worth the money or not even worth the time. Make sure that you use wording and layouts that are eye catching and easy to understand and communicate your product and mission indisputably.