The inaugural public seminar on how the Queenstown Lakes
Community Housing Trust can help residents buy their first
home was deemed a success and a follow-up seminar is tipped
to be held in three weeks.
The free informal forum - titled Thinking of Buying in
Queenstown?- was held in Novotel Queenstown Lakeside on
Tuesday evening. It was packed with about 40 interested
individuals and families.
The aim of the evening was to help people understand how they
could go about getting their first home and the assistance
the trust could offer.
Trust executive officer Julie Scott and SBS Bank Queenstown
commercial manager David Weir gave a brief presentation, then
were available for questions.
Ms Scott said on Wednesday the seminar was "very successful"
and interactive.
About an hour of questions and answers was followed by
another half an hour of one-on-one inquiries.
"A lot of questions were about what the trust has to offer
and the mechanics of the different programmes, as we now have
starter loans, shared ownership and rent saver," she said.
"There were lots of questions about future work including
developments and the timing of Nerin Sq [Lake Hayes Estate]."
Ms Scott said there was a good mixture of New Zealanders and
residents from overseas. Ages of participants ranged from 18
to about 50.
Several attended with their children, and all were serious in
their interest in securing their first home, she said.
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