Author: Press Room
How much are property investors to blame for rising house prices? Quite a bit, according to new doctoral research from Massey University’s David White.He said, while investors were often pointed to — including by the government — as a reason that house prices rose, there had previously been no clear evidence presented to show that was the case.He wanted to look at whether houses were overpriced, and whether that was caused by investor activity. He said he was able to confirm in his thesis that both were true.”Investors were selected as a segment of the market that are most likely…
A man has been critically injured after a lawn mower rolled down a steep bank and into a creek bed in north Auckland this afternoon.Fire and Emergency New Zealand said it was called to the scene following reports a person was trapped under a lawn mower which was on fire in Waitoki around 2pm.The man was using the lawn mower when it rolled “down a steep bank and into a small, dry creek bed 10 metres below”, an Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter spokesperson told 1News. Hato Hone St John said one ambulance, one operations manager, and one helicopter responded to…
Patched King Cobra gang members have been charged after allegedly posing outside the Auckland High Court on the day the Gangs Act 2024 came into force.Police had been investigating an early breach of the prohibition of gang insignia in public after a photo was posted online outside the court on November 21.Six men, aged between 28 and 58, have been charged with the prohibited display of a gang patch and had their patches seized by police.Half a dozen search warrants were executed across Auckland and Waikato this morning, unearthing drugs, firearms and other items of interest to police, a spokesperson…
In a surprise move, the sale of polytechnics will be on the table when the national institute of technology Te Pūkenga is disestablished.Tertiary Education Minister Penny Simmonds today announced the Government would go ahead with its preferred option of re-establishing stand-alone polytechnics.She told RNZ the legislation to do that would include the possibility of sale, but the Government was not likely to use that option.”It is unusual. It was just really to have a full range of actions that could be taken but it’s not one that I would hope we would be having to move to but certainly if…
More than half the country’s historic landfills could be exposed to the risks of climate change, according to a new report.The report, commissioned by the Ministry for the Environment in the wake of the Fox River disaster in 2019, is the first time there has been an in-depth level of data on a national scale. It looked at three factors of climate change: coastal inundation, proximity to the sea, and flooding. It found 1797 of the country’s historic landfills could be impacted by at least one of the three factors and 176 are exposed to all three. “Historically our work…
KiwiRail has announced it’s bringing back a popular passenger rail journey more than 20 years after it ended.The Southerner connected Christchurch and Invercargill via Dunedin between 1970 and 2002.Great Journeys New Zealand will run daily return trips from May 17 to 20 next year.”The Southerner was renowned for offering a comfortable and scenic journey, making Invercargill the southernmost passenger station in the world. Its legacy as one of New Zealand’s most beloved train services endures, and now it is returning to offer a new generation the chance to experience part of this historic route once again,” Great Journeys New Zealand…
Former Labour MP and mayor of Auckland’s North Shore City Ann Hartley has died.Members of the family posted on social media that Hartley died Friday surrounded by family.Hartley was the first mayor of the newly created North Shore City in 1989, and went on to be elected to Parliament in 1999, winning the Northcote Electorate.Hartley went on to be the Deputy Speaker and Assistant Speaker and a member of multiple committees.She left Parliament in 2008 and served on the North Shore City Council.”Ann was the shining light of our family, we were all so proud of her endless support for…
A car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg on Friday evening. Two people have been confirmed dead and at least 68 injured. ADVERTISEMENTAt least two people, an adult and a toddler, have been killed and 60 others injured after a car ploughed into a crowd at a busy outdoor Christmas market in Magdeburg, a city in eastern Germany. Authorities are describing the incident as a “deliberate attack.” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser are scheduled to visit Magdeburg on Saturday. Faeser has confirmed that federal police are actively supporting the investigation into…
The release of fast-track application documents has revealed plans for a hotel and student hostel at Auckland’s Eden Park stadium.The description of the proposed Eden Park 2.1 project included a 105-bed boutique hotel and potential accommodation for 150 students.The hotel would sleeve the stadium’s North Stand and face Walters Road, “providing unique accommodation with rooms overlooking the field of play”. The exact location of the student accommodation was not mentioned, but the document did say the accommodation would be in conjunction with the University of Auckland.Other components of the Eden Park 2.1 project, such as a retractable roof and pedestrian…
NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) has crunched the data to find holiday congestion hotspots in Waikato and Bay of Plenty – but people might be surprised at the way they are responding to help.In the Waikato, the busiest spots are expected to be on SH25 around Tairua township, on SH1 between Tairua and Karāpiro and on SH2 between Pōkeno and Matamata.In the Bay of Plenty, the busiest spots are likely to be on SH2 between Paeroa and Waihī, on SH2 between Tauranga and Katikati and on SH29 on the Kaimai range.To help traffic flows, NZTA Waikato journey manager Andrew…