"We have sold three of the sections already through word of mouth. The market seems to have been very, very strong over the past few months," Shane Robinson said yesterday.
Mr Robinson, a real estate agent, and his wife, Julie, have owned the 1.2ha of residentially zoned land on the corner of Tanner Rd and Glenholm St for some time. They live nearby.
The subdivision, approved by the Dunedin City Council in May, allows for 12 lots ranging in size from 800sq to 1390sq m, plus a new access road from Tanner Rd.
Consent also requires the Robinsons to provide stormwater connections to a piped watercourse in Malvern St, and to widen and upgrade Tanner Rd and Glenhom Sts.
Gaining resource consent had taken about 14 months, Mr Robinson said. Now it had been approved he hoped the construction of roads and other services would begin as soon as possible.
Tenders had been advertised but not yet let.
He expected the first houses would be built before Christmas.
At Mosgiel, houses are going up steadily on adjoining sizeable subdivisions to the northeast of the town near Factory Rd and Wingatui Rd, and consent has been granted for three more large subdivisions which have not been marketed yet.
However, subdivisions in the Dunedin metropolitan area have been few since the housing market went flat about the beginning of 2008.
Dunedin City Council resource consents manager Alan Worthington said a 12-lot subdivision "was getting into the notable category" as most subdivision consents recently been for one or two-lot subdivisions.
The other recent major subdivision in metropolitan Dunedin is the 20ha Grandvista Estate, Abbotsford, where the first sections were sold in May, 2008.
L.J. Hookers agent Jason Hynes said yesterday said section sales had "ticked along" at about one every month to six weeks until this year, when sales "took off".
Now, a section was selling about every two weeks.
So far, 40 sections had been sold and 25 homes were completed or under construction.
The housing market generally seemed to have improved this year, and there was more interest in new homes, he said. There was also a point at which new subdivisions became more appealing for buyers, he said.
Building in the city
New dwelling consents (excluding apartments), Dunedin City Council area
• Year to May 31, 2007: 486
• Year to May 31, 2008: 377
• Year to May 31, 2009: 212
• Year to May 31, 2010: 337
• Year to May 31, 2011: 292
Last November, 56 consents were approved, the highest monthly total since July, 2006
Source: Statistics New Zealand
