Young people getting priced out of the market…
Development rules to protect the quaint village feel of a historic Central Otago town risk turning it into an “elitist place” few people can afford, some feared.
For three decades, town meetings have supported containing Arrowtown’s housing within a greenbelt border of rural properties and golf courses.
But with the median house price exceeding $2 million, the school roll falling, and more holiday homes sitting empty, some people are now concerned that restricting residential growth has the unintended consequence of destroying the very community the rules were designed to protect.
“I think we could kill the golden goose if we end up sprawling too much, but I’m also quite aware that it’s become quite an elitist place,” Benje Patterson, economist and Arrowtown resident, told Stuff.
Moving to Arrowtown allowed Patterson to operate his nationwide consultancy business from home, go out for ice-creams with his three kids, or pop into town for a meal or coffee meeting.
“I can do all these things, and then put on a pair of shoes and sprint up and down a few hills,” he said. “I get the whole package I’m looking for in life.”
Children still biked or walked to school by themselves in Arrowtown – something that was no longer the norm in New Zealand and what Patterson felt was worth holding on to.
He was conflicted over whether the town’s urban limits should expand.
According to real estate agent Richard Newman, only a few properties were available, and they were usually sold to people from Auckland, Wellington, and Australia who were using them as holiday homes.
Empty sections or old cribs were bought for about $1.3 million to build homes worth $4 million or more, Newman said.
For Rosemary Chalmers, business owner and RSA president, that was a concern, as young people were getting priced out of the market.
Chalmers pointed to the decreasing roll at the Arrowtown School – from 525 in 2019 down to 494 in 2022. She also said community institutions, including churches, the swimming pool, the fire brigade, and the annual Arrowtown Autumn Festival were now at risk.
“We don’t want to be known as an old people’s town,” she told the news agency. “It takes a community of all ages to create a community.”
From a population of 850 people in 1989, it had grown to 3,600 in 2022.
On the town’s outskirts, residential areas such as Butel Park and Millbrook have been developed, and a recent expansion along McDonnell Rd. Construction at the Queenstown Lakes Housing Trust’s Tewa Banks development, which includes 68 new houses, has also commenced.
What do you think about the issue? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below.
