Speaker 1: Kyoda. I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page,
Speaker 1: a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald. From
Speaker 1: the ongoing downfall of high flying developers to promises of
Speaker 1: Swedish meat balls, this year is set to be one
Speaker 1: to watch when it comes to property news. Major developments
Speaker 1: are getting underway after the passing of the Fast Track
Speaker 1: Approval Act, while some projects that have been under construction
Speaker 1: for years are close to completion. But after a few
Speaker 1: years of a tough lending landscape and issues in the
Speaker 1: construction industry, I'll be closer to getting back on track.
Speaker 1: Today on the Front Page ends at Herald, property insider
Speaker 1: An Gibson joins us to share her property predictions for
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. And let's start with perhaps a big
Speaker 1: property story of twenty twenty five that's going to be continuing.
Speaker 1: The Deval Group. You've spoken to us about them before.
Speaker 1: When are they expected to be before the court.
Speaker 2: So there's a number of dates that are set to
Speaker 2: have court appearances with Charlotte Clark, the chief executive of Duval.
Speaker 2: And this is action that the Financial Markets Authority and
Speaker 2: PwC is taking against them. So ready we've got a
Speaker 2: February date that's due for an update on the clerk's
Speaker 2: legal position getting legal aid. We've got the receiver's PwC
Speaker 2: to provide an update to the court in March, and
Speaker 2: it's not till June that we've got the more substantive
Speaker 2: three day hearing due. So that's going to be I
Speaker 2: think one of the larger stories for this year because
Speaker 2: there is so much action on that front, and also
Speaker 2: the amount involved. So John Fisk, one of the receivers
Speaker 2: PwC said two hundred and thirty seven point six million
Speaker 2: OD and the report that PwC issued also expressed concern
Speaker 2: about irregular accounting entries.
Speaker 1: I was going to say that about the money. I
Speaker 1: saw one story last week about one entity alone owing
Speaker 1: four point six million dollars in taxes to IRD. So
Speaker 1: is there just a massive paper trail that they're working
Speaker 1: through at the moment.
Speaker 3: Oh.
Speaker 2: I think that was really interesting. When John Fisk talked
Speaker 2: about the duval entities last year, I think he compared
Speaker 2: them to something like spaghetti from memory. He said there
Speaker 2: were so many interconnections, there were so many entities. I
Speaker 2: think there's more than sixty companies. It's a very complex
Speaker 2: where it's a very complicated receivership and statutory management. Nothing
Speaker 2: is really clear there yet. At the moment.
Speaker 4: We were looking at the social media, this guy was
Speaker 4: saying things like, you know, hates the thing that sharpens
Speaker 4: my blade kind of thing, and posting pictures of himself
Speaker 4: next to his Rolls Royce with duval one number plate
Speaker 4: on it.
Speaker 5: Business Desk property editor Maria Slade has been following Duval
Speaker 5: closely since her first article in twenty twenty one raised
Speaker 5: concerns this is.
Speaker 4: Not normal behavior for a property developer who's just trying
Speaker 4: to get on with the business of building houses.
Speaker 1: You know, are you surprised by how fascinated people are
Speaker 1: in this case?
Speaker 2: No, not really, because of the fact that the clerks
Speaker 2: were very high profile in terms of the life style
Speaker 2: that they were living in the image that they projected
Speaker 2: of highly successful property people. It's interesting too that also
Speaker 2: we're still getting updates from Kenyon Clark talking about him
Speaker 2: not living in fear, finishing his book, wanting to get
Speaker 2: his passport back, wanting to hold the FMA and PwC
Speaker 2: to account. So it's kind of this battle that's going on,
Speaker 2: and I think it's got all the elements of a
Speaker 2: store that people are interested in, and the unusual thing
Speaker 2: to me is that most property developers are not like
Speaker 2: that at all. This does fulfill a certain image that
Speaker 2: people may have, but it's not actually the reality. This
Speaker 2: is exceptional.
Speaker 1: It sounds like something that could be turned into a
Speaker 1: Netflix mini series at some point, doesn't it.
Speaker 2: Well, there was a documentary being made called The Property
Speaker 2: Developers and it was going to go into season two.
Speaker 2: We haven't seen season one. When I talked to the
Speaker 2: producers of that last year, they talked about an international
Speaker 2: platform purchasing the rights to that. Seems fairly unlikely at
Speaker 2: the stage, but you know, good surprise on the upside.
Speaker 1: Let's move on to developments. The Fast Track Approval Act
Speaker 1: passed last year. How many projects are we expecting to
Speaker 1: see get kick started from that?
Speaker 2: Well, there were exactly one hundred and forty nine approved
Speaker 2: in the legislation that was passed before Christmas. There were
Speaker 2: more than three hundred applications made. Now I'm gradually working
Speaker 2: my way through the list. It's quite a daunting but
Speaker 2: the first two which I found really interesting were a
Speaker 2: revelation that there was a project and to develop the
Speaker 2: heart of devport for more than four hundred million dollars
Speaker 2: by Peninsula Capital, which is headed by Beerige Spencer. And
Speaker 2: the second one is a court of a kilometer high
Speaker 2: tower on the waterfront the downtown project Nati Fato or
Speaker 2: Rachai and also precinct properties together on that so they're
Speaker 2: talking about retail, apartments, offices, and a big civic component
Speaker 2: of that too. So that's just two of those. But honestly,
Speaker 2: when I look at the list, it is a fascinating list.
Speaker 2: It's everything from wind farms to power stations, to golf
Speaker 2: courses to you name it all in there.
Speaker 5: This is the very spot hundreds, maybe even thousands of
Speaker 5: shoppers will flock to every day. That's because it's the
Speaker 5: site of New Zealand's first ever I Care constructions finally begun,
Speaker 5: with the initial earthworks very much underway, but don't get
Speaker 5: too excited just yet, with doors only set to open
Speaker 5: in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: Now, I'm going to move on to something that I
Speaker 1: know a lot of people have been asking me about.
Speaker 1: Probably a lot of people have been asking you about
Speaker 1: as well. We've been waiting for IKEA for decades and
Speaker 1: it's nearly here. What's the latest you've heard there.
Speaker 2: Well, so Ikea have announced that they will open in
Speaker 2: the final quarter of the twenty twenty five calendar year,
Speaker 2: and it does look very likely in that late last
Speaker 2: year they issued an update showing that about a quarter
Speaker 2: of the exterior cladding is on this huge warehouse and
Speaker 2: just on the other side of the railway lines from
Speaker 2: Sylvia Park. So Nayla Love the biggest builder in New
Speaker 2: Zealand in terms of workloads. It was, of course working
Speaker 2: on the christ Church Cathedral. They are moving at pace
Speaker 2: on that site. So let's hope that Ikea does open
Speaker 2: in the final quarter of the year. You're right, there's
Speaker 2: a huge amount of interest in it. It will be
Speaker 2: fascinating and it will bring a new concept to New Zealand,
Speaker 2: that concept of the themes and the rooms where you
Speaker 2: kind of go into another zone, don't you when you
Speaker 2: walk through an ik shop. Don't I had this experience?
Speaker 2: But you know, oh, could my bathroom look like that?
Speaker 2: Could my kitchen really hum in that way?
Speaker 1: Wow?
Speaker 2: Look at that bedroom design. I could change mine around
Speaker 2: and you know, so they're really good at that kind
Speaker 2: of experiential aspect and we get what the meatballs as well.
Speaker 1: Which is very pod That was going to be my
Speaker 1: next question, and the Swedish meatballsolutely so there is an
Speaker 1: Ikea in Adelaide. Actually I can't remember when we got
Speaker 1: that when I was growing up, but the meatballs were
Speaker 1: obviously a massive draw card. And you're right that experiential
Speaker 1: kind of shopping experience as well. There are literally arrows
Speaker 1: on the floor to guide you through each and so
Speaker 1: even if you're not looking at kitchen appliances, you will
Speaker 1: be seeing them as you make your way towards the meatballs.
Speaker 2: I had a fascinating experience with the ike executives a
Speaker 2: couple of years ago when I was interviewing them and
Speaker 2: they wanted to ask me about I care experience, and
Speaker 2: you know, said, look, I have been to a number
Speaker 2: of overseas because it's very interesting from a property perspective.
Speaker 2: In fact, I have visited that one Adelaide. It's beautiful.
Speaker 2: And they wanted to know from me what did I buy,
Speaker 2: and I said, well, look, to be honest, to things,
Speaker 2: piller case, you know, internal linings that are really cheap
Speaker 2: and really good, and pigs. Because I was traveling internationally
Speaker 2: so it was like these things could fit in the suitcase,
Speaker 2: no useful. Hey, you know what, we're still using those things.
Speaker 1: Are there any other big brands making a move our
Speaker 1: way this year? I have been personally advocating for something
Speaker 1: like Audi to enter the market, but I know that
Speaker 1: my wishes are probably not going to be cast.
Speaker 2: Wow, very good question. There is the second largest retail
Speaker 2: development in Auckland at the moment after I Care. Actually
Speaker 2: is the new Tesla showroom at Westgate mark Gunton's development.
Speaker 2: Now that is huge. The Mecky Center is eighteen thousand
Speaker 2: square meters. Are drove past it this week, unbelievable. You
Speaker 2: go for a long way down the street before you
Speaker 2: finish passing that building. So the building is up, it
Speaker 2: will open this year. I know we already have Tesla outlets,
Speaker 2: but this is a whole new level just down the
Speaker 2: road from Tesla really quite absolutely opposite the Costco is
Speaker 2: a twenty four to seven kmart, the biggest in New Zealand.
Speaker 2: That's going to be opening. So you know, these sorts
Speaker 2: of things. It sort of shows also a level of
Speaker 2: confidence in Westgate, but also in that economy, people still
Speaker 2: spending buying the electric vehicle, you know, going into kmart
Speaker 2: kind of like one end of the retail experience to
Speaker 2: the other. But I think Westgate is a really good
Speaker 2: example with all the new data centers going up there
Speaker 2: of growth and confidence in the economy.
Speaker 1: On the other side of the equation, there's the developments
Speaker 1: that have flopped or gone stagnant. Let's start with c
Speaker 1: Skate without a part building on Auckland's Customs Street that's
Speaker 1: essentially abandoned. Is there any movement there?
Speaker 2: Yes, it's really unfortunate. At the moment, we had an
Speaker 2: article about a young person scaling the crane of seascape
Speaker 2: at night and hanging by one hand from it. So
Speaker 2: August two, China Construction. Actually the builder there won their
Speaker 2: building disputes tribunal ruling when they demanded thirty three million
Speaker 2: from Shundi Customs. That's the developer. So we've had no
Speaker 2: work on that site for many months, or the trades
Speaker 2: businesses have pulled away from there, taken their tools with them.
Speaker 2: We're just hoping at the stage that will resume, that
Speaker 2: the impasse between the builder and the developer will be
Speaker 2: resolved and that the people will return to the site
Speaker 2: and finish it. It's clad up to I think somewhere
Speaker 2: about level thirty five and you know it's fifty seven
Speaker 2: levels tall. It is a terrible thing for Auckland to
Speaker 2: have a building that big sitting idle for that long.
Speaker 2: It's also very bad for the structural components on the
Speaker 2: site to be exposed to the weather for that length
Speaker 2: of time. Buildings are made to be closed, and they're
Speaker 2: made to be used. They're made to be worked and
Speaker 2: lived and they're not designed to be left open to
Speaker 2: the elements like this. And what is it about construction
Speaker 2: Because I'm looking at the liquidations.
Speaker 1: Construction as an industry leads all industries.
Speaker 3: Why yes, where the canary and the coal mine. Unfortunately,
Speaker 3: because essentially as soon as interstrates start going up to
Speaker 3: consume it, confidence comes down. Therefore people stop investing. People
Speaker 3: haven't spending the money. So private investors who are building
Speaker 3: the likes of shopping malls, retail restaurants and are like
Speaker 3: those projects immediately dry up.
Speaker 1: And there's been a lot of woes in the construction
Speaker 1: sector in the last few years. A lot of builders
Speaker 1: and developers have gone under. You report it on another
Speaker 1: apartment developer declaring insolvency just last week. Where are things
Speaker 1: at now? Are we seeing some stability or even to
Speaker 1: pick up in new builds yet or do you anticipate
Speaker 1: that will happen this year?
Speaker 2: I said in a column about the future twenty twenty five,
Speaker 2: zero powers to predict what I do see every day
Speaker 2: as a number of insolvencies on the company's office. Now,
Speaker 2: these are usually the shareholders themselves calling in the liquidators,
Speaker 2: Unable often to pay tax bills, unable to repay big loans.
Speaker 2: You know, it's a really serious situation. Often what's occurred
Speaker 2: is the is the building has been finished and been sold,
Speaker 2: but the financial fallout may still mention COVID man that
Speaker 2: has a tale that is just unbelievable, the COVID lockdown
Speaker 2: and the pandemic. It's in virtually every receiver's liquidators report
Speaker 2: that I'm reading at the moment. And the worst thing
Speaker 2: is too I think that in land revenue they talked
Speaker 2: about going full throttle, but also in land revenue are
Speaker 2: often a creditor, and the building suppliers are often creditors,
Speaker 2: as are many consultants and trades, and that is really concerning.
Speaker 2: That really does hit hard, and I don't see any
Speaker 2: let up at the stage. I wish I did what.
Speaker 1: Do you think will be the big property trends this year?
Speaker 2: In Well, I think the focus will really be on
Speaker 2: a number of things. One will be that seascape tar
Speaker 2: that is a very unusual situation, both parties out of China,
Speaker 2: very little control by New Zealand authorities to do much there.
Speaker 2: I do think dval will be interesting because of the
Speaker 2: number of court fixtures, dates, hearings, callovers whatever you refer
Speaker 2: to them as. I think that will be ongoing. There's
Speaker 2: actually a tremendous amount of development going on in Auckland
Speaker 2: at moment despite the downturn in the economy. If you
Speaker 2: look at the skyline you see a lot of cranes,
Speaker 2: so what expect continuation of quite substantial amounts of work
Speaker 2: and when it when it all comes down, Really a
Speaker 2: lot of people are talking about the decline and interest
Speaker 2: rates and that giving the economy, you know, a bit
Speaker 2: of a follow up really, I'm yet to see that
Speaker 2: hugely in the market at the stage. I think for
Speaker 2: me it's very much a projects based year and I'll
Speaker 2: be really interested to look out for new projects. Walworths
Speaker 2: has announced although I've applied for a huge expansion of
Speaker 2: a distribution facility at Woodie, which I'm yet to write about,
Speaker 2: but you know that shows, you know, an agglomeration of
Speaker 2: their distribution operations, so Supermarket's really doing well. You know,
Speaker 2: those will be the sort of themes that I think
Speaker 2: we'll see this year.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us, Ann, You're welcome. That's it for
Speaker 1: this episode of the Front Page. You can read more
Speaker 1: about today's stories and extensive news coverage at enzadherld dot
Speaker 1: co dot MZ. The Front Page is produced by Ethan
Speaker 1: Seals and Richard Martin, who is also our sound engineer.
Speaker 1: I'm Chelsea Daniels. Subscribe to the Front Page on iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts, and tune in tomorrow
Speaker 1: for another look behind the headlines.