
Auckland Council to release new property valuations in early June
She said the Valuer-General had requested a few areas for final review, but the council was confident that final sign-off would be achieved before June 9.
'We believe the thoroughness of this work will give Aucklanders confidence that the revaluation process is robust. It means ratepayers receive rates that are fairly calculated,' Heath said.
The new CVs will be used to set rates, signalled by the council for a 5.8% rise, from July 1.
The new valuations were set as of May 1 last year, but their release has been pushed back from late last year to May of this year, and now early June.
Thousands of Auckland ratepayers could find their rates chopping and changing this year because of the late release of the valuations.
This is because many ratepayers will object to their new values past July 1, leading to ratepayers paying the rates struck on July 1 and higher or lower rates if their objection to the council is successful.
At the last revelation in 2021, more than 9000 objections were made to the council.
At the time of the new valuations on May 1 last year, OneRoof figures show Auckland's average property value was $1.31m. This is marginally less than the average property value of $1.37m when Auckland CVs were last taken in June 2021.
Between the two sets of CVs, average Auckland property prices peaked at $1.58m in January 2022 and fell to 2021 levels by the latest valuations in May last year, according to OneRoof figures.
This would indicate little change between the 2021 and 2024 CVs.
The revaluation exercise does not change the total amount of rates revenue the council collects, but helps distribute rates fairly between ratepayers.
Under an allocation mechanism, properties whose value has risen by more than the overall average increase or decrease will pay more in rates than the general rates increase this year, proposed to be 5.8%.
The opposite is true for valuations below the overall average. Their rates will fall relative to the general rate increase.

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Newsroom
2 days ago
- Newsroom
NZME declares peace, Stuff and TradeMe declare war
The battle to control NZ Herald owner NZME ended on Tuesday with shareholders endorsing a peace deal – just as major rivals Stuff and TradeMe joined forces to form an audacious new competitor. NZME shareholders voted former National cabinet minister Steven Joyce onto its board, replacing outgoing chair Barbara Chapman, and approved corporate raider Jim Grenon as another new face. Incumbent director Sussan Turner won re-election and re-joined two continuing, existing directors. By agreement Joyce will be made chair, and a sixth director, digital commerce expert Bowen Pan will be appointed. The votes ended three months of a power struggle, initiated by Canadian-NZ private equity investor Grenon for what he promised to be better financial results and improved journalism at NZME's New Zealand Herald site and newspaper. Grenon's campaign started by seeking appointment of himself plus three more of his nominees and the removal of all incumbents. But it ends with his sole accession to the board, three incumbents continuing, and Joyce as a peacemaking chair. Chapman and director David Gibson were the fall guys. Grenon is now a 13 percent shareholder but his first push for control has been partly stymied. Curiously, he won the fewest votes for his appointment (86 percent) and most against (14 percent) of the four resolutions put to the meeting. Joyce won the backing of 93 percent of votes cast. The new board members received a sobering trading update from chief executive Michael Boggs at the annual shareholders meeting. Boggs' forecast for the balance of NZME's financial year was subdued, compared with relatively upbeat words as late as a results briefing in February, when he confirmed a 2024 net profit of $12m but overall loss, after write-downs on the value of newspapers, of -$16m. 'Unfortunately, the market remains volatile and economic commentators have softened their outlook from what was expected earlier in the year.' Later, he noted: 'The market is not improving as much as we originally expected – it remains volatile and therefore we are taking a cautious yet optimistic approach.' The business had done better in the first four months this year than last and remained 'well placed' to deliver improved full year results, but he emphasised downturns in the latest business and consumer confidence surveys. He said NZME had made the equivalent of $12m in annualised savings already this year, including $4m saved from a round of 30 redundancies in its editorial departments. Boggs noted a delay expected in a recovery in house prices – 'again, later than predicted' – which could be crucial to forecasts for NZME's OneRoof real estate listings portal. In February, NZME announced a strategic review of OneRoof, possibly seeking investment, a part sale or separation in advance of a market listing. It suggested shareholders would be updated at this annual meeting, but outgoing chair Chapman said an update would now be made at the half-year results in August. The silence on the future of OneRoof spoke particularly loudly on Tuesday because the number one property site in the market, TradeMe, chose that very morning to announce it had bought half of Stuff Digital, the nation's biggest news site. As OneRoof has used its partnership to promote housing and real estate content and link to its homes for sale, TradeMe will now take over Stuff's property section and leverage what is bound to be more real estate content on that site. The deal, which is subject to standard conditions being met, will therefore pit the Herald-One Roof combo against Stuff-TradeMe. The latter partnership starts as number one in each of its component online markets. TradeMe's investment will also be a big boost to Stuff, which while profitable according to owner Sinead Boucher, would have been pressured over the past two years in the same vein as declining print and digital ad revenues suffered by NZME. Stuff also took on the added cost of producing 3News nightly for Warner Bros Discovery following Newshub's demise – a multimillion dollar outlay likely to have sustained reduced initially forecast margins, possibly into the red. The sum paid by TradeMe has not been disclosed and both businesses are private companies. But for Boucher and Stuff a substantial inflow of capital right now will greatly improve prospects for the company she bought from Nine Entertainment five years ago for $1. 'This is the first time since the management buyout of Stuff five years ago that I have accepted an equity partner into the business,' she said. 'It was important to me that we found the right partner at the right time in our growth strategy, protecting our fiercely independent media business which is loved and trusted by millions of New Zealanders.' The Stuff mastheads division, covering its newspapers, subscriber news sites The Post, The Press and Waikato Times, plus the Neighbourly and Events businesses, remain fully owned by Boucher. For NZME, its rivals' marriage will not have been a surprise, having been publicly mooted since at least March. But it will be no less challenging, particularly if the NZME strategic review being conducted by Jarden recommends seeking separation and outside investment. The review's objective of realising OneRoof's 'full potential' just got harder. TradeMe chief executive Anders Skoe said the Stuff deal would enable house vendors and agents 'reach an even wider pool of prospective buyers' and 'generate the highest quality property market insights.' Stuff has an audience of 2.3m unique readers a month, 400,000 higher than in the Nielsen online ratings for April, and One Roof, according to the Herald, trailed TradeMe by, 32,000 – 747,000 to 779,000. While Chapman's final speech as chair saluted OneRoof for going 'from strength to strength, delivering significant year-on-year growth', at least one new board member has not always been so convinced. New NZME board member Jim Grenon. Photo: NZME presentation New director Grenon, in a war of words conducted by letter during his contest for board places, threw doubt on OneRoof's actual success over the past four years, saying it had achieved just 40 percent of its targets. In a letter from March 6, Grenon said OneRoof 'missed the most relevant ebitda margin target by a significant degree' as late as the 2024 financial year. 'OneRoof's 2024 financial performance is a recent example of management over promising and ebitda confusion,' he noted, coming in at just half what he calculated should have been $4.8m in operating profit. He questioned, too, how costs for OneRoof had been allocated in NZME's books. He joins the board now with the main competitors gearing up to push back against OneRoof. The new NZME board is also expected to create an editorial advisory board, with blogger and lawyer Phillip Crump nominated as its first member and possible chair, to help improve the Herald's journalism. Grenon and Crump are both of the centre right, Crump a favoured appointee by the coalition Government to both the NZ on Air board and Waitangi Tribunal.

NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
Media Insider: NZME shareholder meeting - Steven Joyce set to become chair, Jim Grenon to join board; what to expect at today's meeting
All eyes will then be on the new-look board's first strategic moves, including the future direction of property portal OneRoof; whether the company wants to resurrect talks with Stuff to buy its paywalled websites, including The Post and The Press; and the establishment of an NZME editorial board 'to assist and advise the editorial team'. Joyce will - subject to shareholders confirming him and Grenon as new directors, as expected - take the reins as chair from Barbara Chapman, who will retire at the end of the ASM. NZME owns the NZ Herald, NewstalkZB, BusinessDesk and OneRoof; inset: NZME chair Barbara Chapman and shareholder Jim Grenon. Chapman, a former chief executive of ASB, has been subject to much of the wrath of some agitating shareholders over the past several months. Grenon, who now holds 13% of the company, is today expected to meet, for the first time, the NZME executives who have felt the brunt of his criticisms of the company over the past three months. He has highlighted concerns over the financial performance and operation of the company. 'It is concern about operational aspects of NZME that is driving this change,' he told the Herald in a statement in March. 'The editorial content is very much a side issue, but the quality of the journalism does impact everything else in the business and is also the board's ultimate responsibility. 'The new board intends to improve on the journalism, with an emphasis on factual accuracy, less selling of the writer's opinion and appealing to a wider political spectrum.' Influential major shareholder Roger Colman will also be at the ASM today, from Australia, as will be minor shareholder and former National Party leader Don Brash, from Tauranga. The meeting starts at 2pm. 'Best media board in Australasia' Colman said yesterday the new-look board would be the best media board in Australasia, citing the experience of the likes of Joyce, Horrocks, Turner and Pan. He said it was important to thank Grenon and NZME's biggest shareholder, Australian fund Spheria Asset Management, without whom the board changes would not have happened as quickly. Former National Party Cabinet Minister Steven Joyce. Photo / Nick Reed Now, he is keen to ensure the directors work in unison. 'It is important that these board members' relationship with Jim, and Jim's relationship with existing board members, is up to scratch. 'Everybody's on good behaviour - it's a question of how this is going to work, right?' NZME announced in March that Jarden was undertaking a strategic review of its property platform OneRoof. The media firm, which also owns the NZ Herald, Newstalk ZB, BusinessDesk and a suite of music stations and regional news titles, said it had launched the review to accelerate OneRoof's growth and realise its 'full potential in delivering value for shareholders'. Opportunities included the potential separation of OneRoof 'to enable raising external capital, either public or private, to surface its value'; 'potential pathways to value recognition and monetisation'; consolidation opportunities; and 'additional resourcing and extra capacity opportunities'. 'A progress update on this independent review will be provided as part of NZME's half-year results later in the year.' Editorial board NZME has already announced an editorial board will be established. Lawyer, blogger and former ZB Plus editor Philip Crump, who had originally been touted as one of Grenon's board directors, will be a member of the board. The scope of the board, including exactly how it will operate, and other members, have yet to be announced. Former National Party leader Don Brash. Photo / George Novak Meanwhile, Brash, whose group Hobson's Pledge had an advocacy advertisement turned down by NZME last year, told the Herald on Monday that he was planning to attend today's meeting. 'Whether I ask questions, I guess depends a bit on how the AGM evolves. 'I mean, clearly I'm pleased with the changes which have been announced. I've been subscribing to the Herald for a long, long time, and we were very disappointed - I was very disappointed personally - by the fact that we had some difficulty getting some advocacy ads run in the Herald. 'We thought they were legal and accurate. I'm hopeful that the change will make them more open to running advocacy ads as long as there's no legal problem.' He said he was aware NZME had changed its policy, so that advocacy ads could run in future inside the newspaper, rather than on the front page or 'wrapping' the newspaper. 'The unwillingness to carry ads on the front page always amuses me. You're happy to carry ads for an Australian appliance company day after day.' He said he may well reinforce the point that advocacy ads should be permitted. 'It is important that voices can be heard as long as they are in fact legal. 'We don't want anything obviously illegal or inappropriate but I don't think anything Hobson's Pledge has said or is likely to say will be breaking the law.' Brash said he was intending to book a full-page advocacy ad in the Weekend Herald next Saturday - it was not connected to Hobson's Pledge and would be announced later in the week. A newspaper 'for everybody' Amplifying Brash's comments, Colman said a newspaper had to be 'for everybody'. 'There's a pendulum - it swings left to right at various elections all the time. Sometimes the conservatives are in power, sometimes the progressives are in power. The paper's got to cover all bases.' Roger Colman addresses the NZME shareholders meeting in 2024. Photo / Sylvie Whinray This was especially important, he said, given that NZME still employed a substantial percentage of journalists, especially in the wake of the closure of Newshub and other industry cutbacks. He estimated NZME had doubled its percentage of the overall number of New Zealand journalists as a result of the cutbacks at other newsrooms. In the normal course of events, media wouldn't take a lot of interest in NZME's annual shareholder meeting. However, there is still considerable interest in what unfolds today, and NZME expects to accommodate at least half a dozen reporters as well as cameras at the ASM. Meanwhile, Brash believed Joyce would make a good chair. The pair had worked together when Brash was leader of the National Party, and Joyce was in leadership roles for the party, including as general manager and election campaign director. 'He wasn't at that point in parliament, but he was a very effective executive director of the National Party, and we worked together very well,' said Brash. 'I had left Parliament before he came in [as an MP] in 2008. I left in 2007 so we didn't actually serve in the Parliament together, but my impression is he was a very competent minister.' Brash has bought 1000 shares in NZME. This allows him to attend the ASM. 'As a shareholder, I hope he runs the company well. I'm a very modest shareholder, I don't have any particularly strong views about his chairmanship. I'm sure he will do a good job - he's a very competent guy, and of course, he's been in the media himself prior to going to politics. 'In a sense, the developments that have taken place in the last few weeks may make it less important for me to make a public statement. 'I'm pleased with what's happened, and if I say anything at all, it will be in support of what's happened.' Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand's most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME. Watch Media Insider - The Podcast on YouTube, or listen to it on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.


Newsroom
4 days ago
- Newsroom
It's time to back Auckland's innovation moment
Opinion: I attended Mayor Wayne Brown's Innovation Forum, the day he updated his Manifesto for Auckland, and the proposal to form an Auckland Innovation Alliance. In it, he said the Government needed to focus on three areas: technology and innovation, housing and growth, and immigration and tourism. I came away encouraged that the leader of Auckland was putting innovation on the agenda, as crucial in the imagining and delivery of our city's future. I love Auckland and believe in its potential. I was born and raised in the Bombay Hills, back before we had a 'Super City', studied at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland, met my husband working in the Viaduct during the America's Cup, and now live in Te Atatū. Over the past year, like many Aucklanders, my family and I have made the most of what this city offers: swimming at our beaches, bush walking in the Waitākeres, Eden Park concerts, scooter rides along the waterfront, and the playful chaos of the Dog Disco pop-up in Aotea Square. We joined 40,000 other 'geriatric millennials' in the Domain for the Synthony Festival and got behind the launch of Auckland FC. I share this not to age myself, but because I genuinely believe we live in a vibrant, creative, and world-class city. Yes, Auckland has problems. it also has enormous potential, and that potential hinges on people. The mayor's moves to put innovation and economic transformation at the heart of Auckland's agenda will go a long way towards attracting further talent. For years, different groups have published reports diagnosing our economic underperformance and pointing to untapped innovation capacity. The Committee for Auckland's State of the City reports have benchmarked us against global peers, while the Auckland Chamber Tech Council, led by Simon Bridges, has brought together business leaders who are investing time, capital, and energy to help Auckland step into its future. The proposed Auckland Innovation Alliance, a partnership between Auckland Council, the Government, business, and universities, could be the catalyst the city needs. In cities like Singapore, Dublin, and Copenhagen, similar alliances have driven bold, coordinated action. Why should everyday Aucklanders care? Because innovation isn't just about startups and tech, it's about people. A truly innovative city creates high paying, meaningful, and future-proof jobs, not just for software engineers, but for educators, health workers, tradespeople, and students. It leads to better services, smarter infrastructure, and more vibrant communities. Above all, it offers opportunity. The Time for Growth report identifies three globally competitive sectors where Auckland can lead: CreativeTech, FinTech, and HealthTech. Innovation in these areas, and further afield, is how we will keep people here and attract others. But we must do it on our own terms – we can't and don't need to mimic Silicon Valley. We can lead with a model shaped by Aotearoa's values, grounded in partnership, sustainability, and inclusion. Te Ao Māori values like kaitiakitanga (guardianship), manaakitanga (care), and whanaungatanga (connection) offer us a blueprint for innovation that puts long-term impact and intergenerational wellbeing ahead of short-term gains. The mayor's vision to make Auckland the innovation capital of the South Pacific is bold, and timely. His proposals—stronger government partnerships, targeted investment, and an Advanced Technology Institute—are the right moves. A key part of this vision is forging more intentional partnerships between universities and industry, not by expecting them to be and become the same, but by understanding their distinct roles. When they come together, we spark innovation, and build a pipeline of talent that powers the city's future. At the Mayor's Forum, a map of the city's innovation ecosystem showed just how much is already here, university incubators, research and development labs, startup hubs, and investors. Take Outset Ventures, once a garage for tinkerers, now a 5000 square metre deep tech campus backing world changing companies like Toku Eyes, Wellumio, and Zincovery. Add to that Icehouse Ventures, Bridgewest, and others who've invested in hundreds of early-stage ventures and it's clear: the foundations are strong, the momentum is real. Universities are central to this momentum, as both knowledge producers, and as anchor institutions in the civic and economic fabric of Auckland. At the University of Auckland, initiatives like UniServices, the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the Product Accelerator, and MedTech iQ help turn research into real world impact. The Newmarket Innovation Precinct is fast becoming a hub for this work. AUT, through AUT Ventures and a new investment fund, is backing new emerging technologies into startups. Together, these institutions are not only developing ideas, but shaping the people who will drive them. And that's the point: innovation doesn't happen without people. It doesn't happen without belief in our talent, or commitment to supporting it. If we harness the current momentum, Auckland won't just be a great place to live. It will be a city where ideas take root, capital flows, and talent from around the world chooses to stay.