Renovating Dunedin's reputation

There's nothing colder than a Dunedin house in winter - or so the rest of the country believes.

Fair enough? Perhaps, but not because Dunedin is particularly cold. Compared to much of the Western world Dunedin winters are balmy. Compared to many other New Zealand locations Dunedin winters are mild.

But Dunedin houses have typically deserved their poor reputation. Many of them were built a long time ago, quickly and to a standard not suitable to the conditions. They were habitable because firewood was plentiful, meaning heating was not the financial concern it is today.

Without the fires roaring, though, the houses were poor. They were thin, draughty, uninsulated and often sited away from the sun. The ''freezing Dunedin houses'' moniker was deserved.

What were the locals to do? Those who could afford to, renovated; they improved insulation, replaced or added better materials and winter-proofed their homes. But with house values staying stagnant for a long time many were simply not able to renovate their way out of Dunedin's worst feature.

Times have changed, though. As reported in the last week Dunedin's median house price has risen 15.1% in the year to October. That is a nearly $60,000 rise.

Unlike other well-known property price performers, Auckland, Queenstown, Wanaka, Hamilton and Tauranga, Dunedin's increasing property values are not coinciding with extreme population increases - although the city is growing faster than expected.

But where those other centres seem like giant housing developments with new subdivisions pushing the city limits ever further into their hinterlands, Dunedin's property value growth appears more contained within its existing housing stock.

With the values of existing houses rising and home owners seeing their equity grow, anecdotally at least it appears Dunedin people are now tackling that stubborn tag of the country's coldest homes. Around the city hundreds of walls are being scaffolded, re-clad and painted. Roofs are being replaced, insulation added, windows discarded and refitted with double-glazed units.

Fires are being replaced with heat pumps, draughts are being plugged and Dunedin's home owners are reclaiming their houses as winter-proofed sanctuaries.

There is a tendency to spend on frivolity during boom times - and by Dunedin standards this is most certainly a boom time. But instead of frills it seems Dunedin home owners are spending on their own bricks and mortar. Perhaps it's the stoic, hard-working Scottish heritage, perhaps it's the fact Dunedin people are clever and conscientious, or perhaps they've simply had enough of decades spent shivering in cold homes.

Whatever way, the result is one which bodes very well for the city's future. Reputations are quick to establish and difficult to change, and Dunedin's reputation as the home of cold housing will continue for years to come. But as the city's home owners continue to use this boom time to improve the city's housing stock, gradually that reputation will be worn down.

The upshot is - other than the fact Dunedin is and always will be small - there is really nothing else negative for people to say about the city. It is still perfectly compact, beautifully positioned and set in an ecological paradise. It still offers the best education options, is a thriving economic and cultural hub, is home to perhaps the world's best rugby player and is a place that allows lifestyle and family time to trump long, stressful, unproductive commutes.

Of course, rising property prices and a growing population both bring problems of their own, especially for those struggling financially or those trying to take their first step on the property ladder.

These are problems Dunedin will have to manage carefully over the coming years. Because the city-wide surge of home renovations is inadvertently ensuring Dunedin becomes an ever-more tantalising prospect to those around the country craving what the city already has.