Although the average increase is 9.9% resident rates rise will work out at $214 for the average household, about 34,000 households will pay may more $500 and that 9000 of those will face increases of more than $1000.

The average increase for businesses is 1.4%, and rates will decrease 9.7% on average for farms and lifestyle property owners.

They include the general rate, targeted rate, lowering of the business rate, new property valuations and the final step to move to a single rating system for the Super City.

A combination of these factors have led to rates increases of more than 10% for about 126,000 households and more than 20% for about 30,000 households.

Next year, the average rates increase for residential properties will be 3.7%, and between 3.7% and 4% thereafter for the following 10 years. From this year, rates will be calculated the same way across the Auckland region, and rates are no longer capped as they previously were for some households.

Find out your new rate here: http://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/EN/ratesbuildingproperty/ratesvaluations/ratespropertysearch/Pages/RatesSearch.aspx

Are you eligible for a rebate? Find out here: http://www.dia.govt.nz/web/submitforms.nsf/RatesRebateCalc?OpenForm

Source: http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11480632

In my last post, statistics pointed out that investors made up of more than 40% of purchasers within the Auckland region. As we all know, investors typically do not pay as much as the average home buyer would as the numbers must stake up and so forth. So what is the driving force behind these record high asking prices in Auckland then?
Andrew Bruce, president of the Auckland Property Investors' Association feels that one such pressure point is the suppression of building work in this city as the result of the skyrocketing cost of doing business with council. As we know Auckland has a short supply of housing so it may be that the cost to build could be a significant factor here.
Andrew recently subdivided a section and the project took a year to complete. The physical work took only three weeks, the paperwork took 49.

Costs to complete a subdivision
Direct council costs (including consents and development contribution) 46%
Surveyor 24%
Contractors 28%
LINZ and lawyer 2%
Total 100%

Andrew has calculated from this experience, the council costs to the value of the section were 20% of the actual sale price of the section (including installation and connection of the water meter).
In many cases, a proposed building project is not economically viable by financiers, investors, and developers, and this is the cause of our housing supply being unable to keep up with the growing demand.
Source http://www.nzherald.co.nz/personal-finance/news/article.cfm?c_id=12&objectid=11297174

We have seen some record asking prices in Auckland suggesting that it's still a sellers market, with new listings declining. There were a reported 8,524 new listings for sale on the website in June, 20% less than in May last year.

The latest figures show the average asking price for Auckland properties listed for sale in June hit an all time high of $732,240, ahead of the average asking price in May which you can see in the diagram below.

These Auckland sales figures have driven up the national average asking price up to $490,550.  Lack of supply and high demand is still the trend in the property market - "The high asking prices in Auckland in particular suggest that home sellers are confident they will get their price," Realestate.co.nz marketing manager Paul McKenzie said. "A factor in this may be the low overall supply of homes."

Interestingly, the number of sales below $400,000 fell by 17% compared to last year and those properties with an asking price in excess of $1 million rose 19% in the year. Sales between $600,000 and $999,999 rose 6.5% from last year to make up 20% of total sales. Houses in the $400,000 to $599,999 price range rose 2.3% compared to last year making up 28% of total sales.