Despite silly stories in the media about the recession being 'over', none of the economic news suggests that all.
Take troubled finance company Hanover Finance for instance. Once hailed as an example of 'New Zealand's new creativity and entrepreneurship' - which is how TVNZ once described the finance company - it has just given its poor investors an update on the current state of the New Zealand property market.
The news is bad. According to Hanover, the property market has continued to move 'in a negative direction' over the past three months. It says that assets are proving difficult to sell.
Also of interest is that Hanover has told its less than happy investors that it is also having difficulty recovering loans because of the collapse of the property market.
Hanover Finance lent Dave Henderson some $70 million for his ludicrous village project near Queenstown.
All that remains of Hendo's folly is a big hole. Hanover are trying to sell the land but are not exactly being swamped with offers.
One of the former Henderson properties is the old Sydenham school grounds on the corner of Colombo & Brougham. Development had started on the site, but ground to a halt. The only building to begin was a couple of monstrous two-storey tilt slabs covering part of the lovely old Post Office facade (now Blue Jean Cuisine). I saw last week that they had been taken down (no small task). Presumably a safety concern rather than a blow for aesthetics.
ReplyDeleteSince the site is now owned by "us", I assume we paid for this de-construction. Many months and $17 million on, these properties will all come with additional costs to maintain and preserve. Rather than profiting or at least maintaining the capital by re-selling the properties for re-development, we get to spend more money on de-development while they continue to depreciate.
Good points. What will it cost to maintain these five properties while they lose value? It would be interesting to know if the council has contracted this work out - and to who- or is it all being done in-house?
ReplyDeleteMore good news for Christchurch's favorite con-man:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch/2938238/Henderson-hearing-set-for-February
A media beat up, obviously.