Towards the end of last year the Federation contracted independent facilitator Tony Hassed of Wellington to oversee the development of our five year strategic plan. The process began with a meeting comprising the Federation Executive and all Association Presidents. Subsequently Tony attended the January 2005 executive meeting and a draft vision for 2009 has been created. That will be circulated to all Associations later this month. All in all this has been a very rewarding exercise for all involved and I thank you all for your positive participation.
The Federation has filed a substantial submission encompassing not only technical but also strategic matters. We now await receipt of a summary of all of the submissions that the Ministry of Housing received and the continuance of the review process.
As we undertook research for our submission on the RTA review it became apparent that government could take the opportunity to regulate the industry even further if it wished. Coincidentally our work with Tony Hassed on the five year plan established that our goal was to be regarded as the authoritative voice for property investment in New Zealand. Currently we are only just being recognized as undertaking that role. More often than not commentary is sought from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand which is perceived as being the industry fountain of knowledge. In order to raise our profile and become the respected industry voice substantial additional funding is required.
A working party comprising myself, Andrew King (President of Auckland Property Investors Association), Martin Evans (President of Canterbury Property Investors Association and NZPIF Vice President) and Scotney Williams (specialist residential tenancy lawyer) and Thomas Chin (NZPIF Political Lobbyist) met to discuss the future of the industry. From that meeting a draft discussion paper was written. It was decided strategically important not to reveal the contents of that paper until after the RTA Review submissions had closed as we believe that the Real Estate Institute will strongly oppose any move by the NZPIF to be the recognized investment/property management industry body. Communicating the contents of the discussion paper to as many members as possible was also an issue. It was decided to publish the document in the March issue of the New Zealand Property Magazine and to notify each Association President in advance by telephone and email of that. Now that the information is in the public domain we anticipate organizing a series of meetings either locally or regionally to enable further discussion and input by Associations.
The new five year plan calls for the establishment of at least three new Associations each year.
The Capital Property Investors Association based in Wellington continues to go from strength to strength. I wish to thank those NZPIF executive members who filled positions on the interim committee and particularly Darcy Hogue who has been responsible for continuing the momentum. A big thank you to locals Fiona and Alistair Gillespie for their assistance in making the new Association fly.
The Marlborough Property Investors Association, based in Blenheim, has been re-established this month and joins the Federation as has the Independent Property Managers Association. That Association comprises some thirty independent property managers from around the country and has been assisted in its establishment by Martin Evans. It is exciting to have them on board and the Federation welcomes them along with the CPIA and MPIA.
The website continues to undergo development. We have contracted Sarah King of Auckland to oversee this for us. The public side of the site is working well with good traffic and search engine visibility. We are currently encouraging the owners of other websites to link to our site, so that we are considered an “authority site”. The members section is now complete for Associations to use and urge them all to get an understanding of how they can use it to maintain their own databases.
The forum section is not yet complete but work continues in that area.
The Annual Survey has been sent out and returned and returns are currently becing collated. The findings will be announced at a joint NZPIF/ANZ press release next month.
Apart from dealing with the usual telephone and email queries that arise with the various activities the Federation is involved in I have attended the North Otago Property Investors AGM. This was a well attended meeting in Oamaru at which Act MP Muriel Newman was guest speaker. I have also attended a meeting of the Otago Property Investors Association convened to discuss the Industry Restructure proposal.
Publicity-wise I commented for the Sunday Star Times on an article they ran on the Auckland Apartment Market and appeared on TV1 ‘Breakfast’ programme along with the CEO of the NZ Stock Exchange and an investment advisor from Wellington to comment on Michael Cullen’s proposal that the public should be investing in shares rather than property.
I have received positive comment about the programme which is pleasing.
Craig Paddon
President NZPIF
10 March 2005
Need help or
support?
