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.
