Hamilton Needs a More Convincing Growth Story

An opinion piece to be attributed to David Kneebone from Lodge Real Estate.

At Lodge Real Estate, we have a unique perspective on how Hamilton is growing.  Next year alone, we can reasonably expect to grow by 3,500 people and many of them will talk to us when trying to find a property to build, buy or rent.

Every day, we’re selling the dream, but the reality is many of those people are stuck waiting for pipes.  With local government elections on the horizon, we want to table this issue, loud and clear.  

The fact Hamilton is New Zealand’s fastest growing city for a second year in a row suggests we’re doing something right.  With location, relative affordability, and job prospects on our side, we’re also benefitting from great planning in the form of walkable suburbs, reduced sprawl and vibrant urban nodes.

However, there’s an awful lot more growth headed our way, and it’s crucial to demonstrate we can handle what’s ahead.

Right now, a big part of our growth strategy relies on increasing density close to the city centre, ultimately to limit the sprawl and make the best used of shared amenities. We’re all for it and love seeing it come together in neighbourhoods like Hamilton East where traditional villas are blending with infill and townhouse projects.

However, the reality is our infrastructure has struggled to keep pace with this type of growth and developments in many neighbourhoods have bottle-necked.  Some of these property owners are now sitting on empty sites, waiting, because of a wastewater system that is at capacity that they knew nothing about. We hope it was a blip because it doesn’t bode well for investor confidence into the future.

We also hope lessons have been learned by Flowing Waters, the CCO that will soon be responsible for 90,700 drinking and wastewater connections across Hamilton and the Waikato District.  With $3.3 billion in upgrades planned over the next decade, there are encouraging signs we are heading in the right direction.  

I just hope the progress reports from Flowing Waters flow thick and fast to build the trust and confidence developers and investors desperately need right now.

I also hope to see a greater degree of transparency and foresight. Property owners and residents need to know precisely where the pain points are - now and in the years ahead.

I still firmly believe Hamilton is on the verge of transformation – there is certainly not shortage of great minds helping to steer our growth trajectory in a sustainable way. Local government is and will always be a big player in this work and I look forward to seeing where our next team of elected members will take us.

Lodge Real Estate might seem to be a peripheral part of the Hamilton growth story on the face of it, but in many ways we’re at the coalface - every day in every way we’re selling future Hamilton. We’re champions of Hamilton but we’re also straight up.  Right now, we need a slightly more convincing story to tell.