Investors' confidence unshaken

Peter McIntyre.
Peter McIntyre.
Investors in New Zealand's listed property sector were taking Wellington's earthquakes in their stride with only small movements in share prices yesterday.

Craigs Investment Partners broker Peter McIntyre said following the February 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, the focus for many property companies had been to ascertain whether their buildings were up to the required standard.

That was particularly important for Precinct Properties, given its high exposure to the Wellington property market. Precinct was formerly AMP Property Trust.

Precinct had asked engineering firm Holmes Consulting to provide independent advice about the structural integrity of its buildings.

The preliminary advice confirmed Precinct's portfolio scored in the upper quartile of the current Building Code's loading standard strength requirement for new buildings, he said.

Precinct's share price was down marginally through the day, along with those of Property for Industry and Argosy. Each recovered through the day after an initial sell-down.

DNZ and Kiwi Income Property were up.

Tower's price was down about 1.5% on the day but Australian insurance companies were unaffected by the earthquake news, Mr McIntyre said.

''A few investors have looked to unload some shares but volume is very light.''

Since the 2011 earthquake, property companies had been actively upgrading or off-loading properties not up to standard, he said.

Precinct, which counted its 10 office towers in Wellington's central business district as 40% of its $1.6 billion portfolio, said in a statement it suffered no major damage from Sunday's magnitude-6.5 earthquake.

Wellington was shaken by the quake at 5.09pm on Sunday, the peak of a swarm of earthquakes centred off the coast of the upper South Island near Seddon.

Authorities advised workers in Wellington's CBD to stay at home pending building checks after glass and rubble was sent falling into the streets and commuter train services were halted.

Mr McIntyre said having office workers at home also contributed to light trading volume on the NZX.

Argosy said all Wellington assets had been cleared for reoccupation.

''Structural engineers have completed inspections of all of Argosy's Wellington properties, with Argosy staff this morning and no structural concerns have been identified,'' the company said in a statement.

There was some minor mainly cosmetic damage to be addressed and tenancy areas were in need of a tidy-up and reinstatement. However, there was no concern over their occupation, Argosy said.

Kiwi Income Property Trust said initial inspections indicated no significant damage from the earthquakes.

Holmes Consulting, the trust's structural engineers for the seismic strengthening work under way at The Majestic Theatre, inspected the theatre on Sunday night and advised the building continued to be ''acceptable for occupation''.

Holmes would undertake structural inspections of the trust's other Wellington properties, which from initial inspections appeared to have sustained minor damage only, Kiwi Income chief executive Chris Gudgeon said.

Mr McIntyre said another indicator of how serious the earthquake was being taken overseas was how the New Zealand dollar was faring.

Apart from being flat against the Australian dollar, it was up against the currencies of most other trading partners.

''Overseas investors are not too concerned about what is happening in Wellington,'' he said.dene.mackenzie@odt.co.nz

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