Apartment living is on the rise in Dunedin with more people opting for an easy-care lifestyle on the back of a surge in heritage building conversions. Reporter Rhys Chamberlain looked into the sudden interest.
Dave Ray says he could never go back to a conventional home after living in a central Dunedin apartment for six years.
Having retired after a long career in finance, and with grown children, he bought a newly-refurbished two-bedroom apartment in the former Guardian Royal Exchange building in Liverpool St, Dunedin, almost three-years ago.
He was the first to buy one of the apartments after the conversion was completed.
"I'm not sure I could go back to living in a house now,'' Mr Ray (74) said.
"It would have to be pretty close to town. Everything's here. I can walk everywhere and I don't have to worry about anything. I have found it great.''
Mr Ray said he was almost forced into apartment living when he fell from a tree and injured his back.
At the time, he lived in a house on a 2000sq m steep section at Careys Bay.
"It was going to be too much. I was going to have to do it [live in an apartment] sooner or later anyway. I must have already been thinking about it and it was just hastened.''
His 100sq m, two-bedroom home has everything a conventional home has including two bathrooms, a modern kitchen and dining area, a mezzanine floor and a covered car park.
The 1880s Guardian Royal Exchange building was relined and rewired when it was converted about three years ago, after previously being used as insurance offices and warehousing.
The building is one of several historic or older buildings in the city to be converted into modern, spacious apartments.
Others already converted, or in the process of being developed, include the former Clarendon Hotel in Maclaggan St, the Empire Hotel in Princes St, the AH Reed building in Crawford St, the Wilson's Distillery at Willowbank and the National Mortgage and Agency building in Cumberland St.
Plans for several new apartment blocks have been announced recently, including a plan for 25 apartments in Filleul St.
Over the past two years, real estate agents in the city have noticed an increasing number of apartments sold and buildings in which they are being developed.
Nidd Realty managing director Liz Nidd said apartments in Dunedin were becoming a more sought-after option for a select group of people.
"I think there has just been a bit more interest what's happening,'' Ms Nidd said.
"It's tied in with the whole development of the south end of town. It is a fantastic reuse of our big, historic buildings.''
There was a range of reasons people were becoming more interested in apartment living, she said.
"It's more a lifestyle choice, I think, down here. [People] still need accommodation in Dunedin but they don't want the house and garden anymore.
"It is continually a significant part of the Dunedin market now.''
The buyers of apartments were mainly middle-aged professionals who had a home in Central Otago but still worked in Dunedin three or four days a week and needed an easy-care option, Ms Nidd said.
But others were buying, including retirees, single people and investors, she said.
"We've been involved with it [apartments] since the first building was converted in Dowling St. That market is just going to continue.''
Prices varied, but in most cases new apartments in heritage buildings cost almost the same as buying a conventional home.
The market ranged from about $180,000 for a one-bedroom apartment to $500,000 for a three-bedroom heritage building conversion, she said.
"There is one apartment in Dunedin that sold in excess of half a million [dollars],'' she said.
Edinburgh Realty property consultant Jim Columb said there was more confidence in the market at present to undertake developments, but as far as sales went, he estimated apartments made up only about 3% of sales in the city.
Developer Dave Hanan, who is converting the National Mortgage and Agency building in Cumberland St into apartments, said most believed it was a good time to turn former commercial space into equity returning investments.
"I think Dunedin has not really had a property boom like Auckland or Queenstown. Suddenly, we're in a low-interest-rate environment.
"Most people that convert them are looking for a yield and so convert them. When we're talking less than 5%, we sort of go, ‘Well, I can get a return on that','' Mr Hanan said.
Dunedin City Council urban design team leader and heritage policy planner Dr Glen Hazelton said it was tough to gauge the number of apartments in the central city but he believed it was continually growing.
It was estimated there were 299 apartments in the central city, but some conversions might have been classified as one dwelling, he said.