cooperative sections.is an independent community-focused group seeking to provide an affordable way for Christchurch residents to rebuild and restart in the city. Rebuilding in a new area is stressful both financially and emotionally, particularly after the year of disruptions Christchurch residents have faced, and especially for red-zoned people whose payout is less than the current cost of a new
section. Cooperative sections aims to take some of that financial pressure away by bringing people together to become their own developers and get a section at an affordable price. If you, along with others who want a new section (this could even be your friends/ neighbours), join a cooperative to develop a block of land you become the developer and keep the development margin that you would normally have to pay. This is to cover their own holding costs, marketing and selling overheads, and the risks they face when creating a subdivision. The biggest risk relates to whether there will be someone to buy the section at an acceptable price once the development is completed. As both the developer and the end-owner of the section, the cooperative developers avoid this risk, but save that very substantial developers' margin. This means that a $180 - 200,000 section in Halswell could be yours for $120 - 140,000. Effectively, this means that you would make a $60,000 profit. To put it another way, this method lets you purchase a section for around 30% less than than it's market price. Cooperative sections is currently investigating land sites in Halswell, Woodend, Kaiapoi and Rangiora. It is our intention that on at least some of these sites, people will be able to relocate existing good quality houses from the red zone. These will in many cases be indistinguishable from new houses, because there are many houses on red zone land which are less than 5 years old and in excellent order. Shifting them fits in with our principles of cost-effective and green development. As a separate project we are also trying to provide affordable housing solutions for people looking to rebuild. Our aim is to bring together on one site information about housing solutions that other people are developing. We are encouraging people to consider cooperative developments as a secure, low-risk and financially viable alternative. Feel free to ask questions either here on our page, or on our website - we want to know what people want in a section and how we can help. If you think this could work for you, or simply want to know more, get in touch with us - our contact details can be found on the website.
