{"id":240148,"date":"2026-01-18T21:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T21:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/240148\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T21:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T21:49:11","slug":"kainga-ora-tauriko-west-land-sale-developer-says-agency-will-lose-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/240148\/","title":{"rendered":"K\u0101inga Ora Tauriko West land sale: Developer says agency will lose money"},"content":{"rendered":"

Classic Developments co-director Peter Cooney<\/a> said the company was in the original bidding war with K\u0101inga Ora<\/a> in 2021. <\/p>\n

Cooney would not say if the Tauranga-headquartered company would try again when K\u0101inga Ora put the now residentially zoned site back on the market. <\/p>\n

\"ClassicClassic Group director Peter Cooney. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

He did say, however, that he believed under the market conditions, \u201cthey [K\u0101inga Ora] will lose money\u201d.<\/p>\n

CBRE national director in rural valuation and advisory services Mark Passey said the value of development land generally had fallen. <\/p>\n

\u201cSince they [K\u0101inga Ora] purchased \u2026 all residential properties, development land has come back significantly.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it was a factor of coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything went absolutely ballistic, and then we\u2019ve, let\u2019s call it, had a bit of a hangover since as interest rates went up and all the rest of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said unfortunately no one, including K\u0101inga Ora, was immune.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was quite a big downturn in property values in general.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CBRECBRE national director in rural valuation and advisory services Mark Passey. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

The chief executive of privately owned property developer Winton, Chris Meehan, told the NZ Herald in 2022<\/a> that K\u0101inga Ora had \u201csignificantly outbid 11 other experienced developers\u201c, including Winton, for the land.<\/p>\n

He said then taxpayers had paid \u201can absurd amount of money\u201d and he would eat his hat if anyone moved into a house on the land within four years.<\/p>\n

Meehan was approached to comment for this story.<\/p>\n

K\u0101inga Ora\u2019s acting general manager of urban development and delivery, Nick Howcroft, said the 2021 purchase of Ferncliffe Farm was based on two independent market valuations and aligned with expert advice at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn that basis, the price we paid reflected market value at that time. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is too early to speculate on what price the property might fetch in today\u2019s market.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ferncliffe purchase was the first made by K\u0101inga Ora under a then-new $2b land programme aiming to help deliver more affordable private housing at scale.<\/p>\n

At the time, the agency stated that this project was a long-term investment in housing to accommodate the city\u2019s growth, with construction to start in \u201cthree to four years\u201d.<\/p>\n

The agency announced last month it was preparing to sell the land after a decision to refocus on the cost-effective delivery of social housing.<\/p>\n

In a statement, it said it had been talking to the NZ Transport Agency about using some of the land \u201cto support important local transport improvements\u201d and with the Ministry of Education about a potential school.<\/p>\n

\"FerncliffeFerncliffe Farm in Tauriko West is being put back on the market. <\/p>\n

The remaining land would be sold on the open market.<\/p>\n

A K\u0101inga Ora spokesperson told Local Democracy Reporting the agency expected to confirm the appointment of a real estate agent in the next couple of months, and the land would go on sale shortly after.<\/p>\n

Howcroft said the organisation was taking a careful and considered approach to the sale.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to make sure the sale of Ferncliffe Farm supports the wider development of Tauriko West and helps enable key local infrastructure and community facilities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sale also provides an opportunity for another developer to deliver housing for the region, while we continue to focus on providing warm, dry social homes for those who need them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tauranga City Council strategy, partnerships and growth general manager Christine Jones said K\u0101inga Ora advised the council it was reviewing its interest in Ferncliffe Farm in October 2024 and had put its development business case on hold. <\/p>\n

Options were explored throughout 2025, with the intention to dispose of the land confirmed in November.<\/p>\n

\"TaurangaTauranga City Council strategy, partnerships and growth general manager Christine Jones. Photo \/ Alex Cairns<\/p>\n

Ferncliffe Farm forms part of the Tauriko West urban growth area, which was zoned residential in 2025 to enable housing development.<\/p>\n

Jones said most of the Tauriko West land was currently owned by Tauriko West Limited (Element IMF), the Tauriko Property Group with Classic Group, and K\u0101inga Ora, along with some smaller landowners.<\/p>\n

Tauriko West was estimated to have capacity for at least 3000 homes plus schooling, local and neighbourhood commercial centres and community facilities.<\/p>\n

Jones said this would be subject to future decision-making by the council.<\/p>\n

Ferncliffe made up about 20-25% of the net developable area for housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe land remains zoned for residential development, and it is expected that the residential outcomes will continue to be realised through a future landowner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones said Tauriko West and Ferncliffe Farm would play an important role in the delivery of housing in Tauranga, including providing a mix of densities and typologies to meet a variety of housing demands.<\/p>\n

\u201cCouncil will continue to work with K\u0101inga Ora and other community housing providers to help enable opportunities for affordable and social housing throughout the city to meet housing needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

The timing of development ultimately sat with Tauriko West landowners, she said, with the council helping to encourage and facilitate development through investing in community facilities and open space.<\/p>\n

\u2013 LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.<\/p>\n

Ayla Yeoman<\/a> is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based in Tauranga. She holds a Bachelor of Arts majoring in communications, politics and international relations from the University of Auckland, and has been a journalist since 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Classic Developments co-director Peter Cooney said the company was in the original bidding war with K\u0101inga Ora in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[13991,141389,141388,3041,3241,138,29414,9435,23543,19720,5268,1132,300,111,139,69,23544,1133,312,24035,1857,1227,53734,3807,1533],"class_list":["post-240148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-13991","tag-141389","tag-95hectare","tag-agency","tag-bought","tag-business","tag-developer","tag-expects","tag-kinga","tag-land","tag-lose","tag-million","tag-money","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-ora","tag-sale","tag-says","tag-selling","tag-site","tag-tauranga","tag-tauriko","tag-west","tag-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}