Can Booming Amberley Deal with the Rapid Growth?
Christchurch Press Reports:
Amberley is set to nearly double in size in the next few years with a record number of consents for new homes and a $200 million retirement village.
One of the largest districts in the country with some 1600km of roading to maintain, Hurunui’s approximately 14,000 residents means it has the second sparsest population – and rate base – in New Zealand.
StatsNZ puts Amberley’s population at 2300 but Hurunui District Council chief executive Hamish Dobbie said the true figure was “a smidge under 3000” and forecast to grow to 5000.
The council’s new dwelling numbers, which had hovered around 25 to 45 a year for much of the last decade, rocketed to 76 in 2021 and 122 in 2022, and there are now 700 lots (including Amberley Country Estate retirement village) either on the market or in the pipeline.
The median capital value of a home in Amberley had increased by 90% in less than 10 years, according to Quotable Value data.
Click here to read the Christchurch Press article.
