Chief Stipe

Crown backs $11.7m of racecourse-edge project with underwrite Four new contracts brings the total number of agreements to nine, with 690 homes backed for a total $165.9 million by Alice Peacock18/11/2025 Share Stage 9D of Trackside, the final phase of the Gillies Group's Wallaceville Estate development. Photo: Gillies Group The group behind a residential development in Upper Hutt says the backing it received from the Government was “indispensible” in enabling them to start building.https://bitofayarn.com Gillies Group is one of four developers to receive a residential development underwrite agreement in the latest round of Ministry of Housing and Urban Development contracts. The pre-sales commitment from the Crown to bail out developers unable to sell homes helps them secure bank finance for consented, costed and ready-to-commence projects. https://bitofayarn.com The Ministry of Housing and Urban Development’s Charles Mabbett says the four latest developments to be approved will deliver around 270 homes. The four agreements bring the number of residential development underwrites to nine, with the value of the contracts for 690 homes totalling $165.9 million. The limited-time initiative was introduced in October 2024, intended to support the residential development sector while the economy recovers by offering a financing bridge to successful applicants.https://bitofayarn.com A total 53 applications have been received, 25 of which are not progressing due to ineligibility or failure to pass the Government’s assessment process. https://bitofayarn.com The ministry agrees to purchase the underwritten dwellings in the case that the developer is unable to sell them on the open market after an agreed marketing period. The ‘underwrite price’ is lower than market value. Trackside is the final phase of Gillies Group’s Wallaceville Estate. It comprises 64 lots in a greenfield development integrating parks and bush into a residential setting and flanked at either side by train stations. The homes are a mix of two-, three- and four-bedroom houses and units. Sales manager Jamie Gillies says the underwrite supports the 30 homes that make up stage 9C. Earthworks are complete and building is underway, with five homes pre-sold. Stage 9D – the other section of the Trackside development – was built first and all but one of the 34 homes are sold. Stages A and B targeted first home buyers and were part of the KiwiBuild scheme.https://bitofayarn.com Gillies Group is “well underway” in having the rest of them sold without the Government having to act on its underwrite, but Gillies says this doesn’t mean the backing agreement wasn’t a crucial aspect to get it started. “Given the timing of when the underwrite was available, it was indispensable. It allowed us to start that development when we wouldn’t have otherwise been able.https://bitofayarn.com “That was because of bank funding; they’re requiring you to get so many pre-sales before starting. It allowed us to go to the bank with 20 pre-sales underwritten for 20 of the houses, albeit at significantly reduced rates than what you’d normally sell them for, and say to the bank: ‘Look, worst-case scenario we’ve got the residential development underwrite behind us’. “So that allowed us to get the funding to get on and start the building.” Gillies notes it’s a lot easier to get funding now than it was 18 months ago. The market is much smaller for homes built off the plan because most people buying a home to live in don’t want to wait up to two years for a house to be built. Buyers are typically speculators and investors.https://bitofayarn.com “This programme has done exactly what it was supposed to do, which was to bridge the gap between a market that had fallen … and stabilisation. Getting confidence and financing from the banks and third party lenders was at that point really difficult. “In a market where there was no building going on, it’s kept a lot of families employed. So it’s been a win-win for everybody.” Mabbett, from the ministry, says the residential development underwrite supports developments that align with local market demand and have a low risk of the underwrite being triggered. If it is triggered, homes could be sold to community housing providers, iwi or sold to the open market. “Developers with eligible projects are welcome to apply for an underwrite. Each eligible application is assessed against the residential development underwrite’s objectives and assessment framework. The highest-scoring applications progress. We expect to make further underwrites as eligible applications are received and processed.” The three other successful applicants in the latest round of underwrites includes CG Waimarie Limited, which is at the helm of the Waimarie development in St Heliers, Auckland; Modus Group, which delivers medium-density developments in Auckland, Christchurch and Queenstown; and a company named CS No.2 Limited. Two of the three companies did not respond to a request for comment. The other did not wish to comment, due to concerns that advertising its Crown backing would put off prospective buyers. Residential development underwrites were also used for the former Labour government’s KiwiBuild scheme, which was aimed at boosting affordable housing supply for first time buyers. The underwrite scheme was later widened out to support stalled affordable housing developments.

Why would that be @Freda ? The Hunter I spoke to a couple of weeks ago seemed very happy with life.

We may never know because it hasn't happened in a timely manner. Now we are in a frantic race against time. Which highlights my point about Racecourses being run like amatuer hobbies instead of businesses. The statutory minimum annual wage in NZ is $49,000. If a Club can't earn enough to pay employees to do the work then someone needs to subsidise them. What would you rather have? A racecourse every 50 to 100km or a much smaller number that pay their way and provide professionally run businesses that provide safe racing and training facilities? I remember in my rugby playing teens the town I lived in with a population of just of 3,000 had 5 rugby clubs - Excelsior, St Marys, Kiwi, Kokatahi and one other I can't remember the name of. Today it barely has one! The population of the town has grown but not by much. Not one of those clubs owned their fields as the local ratepayer provided them and maintained them with professional amenity horticulture experts (some who helped out at the local Racing Club) but they all had Club rooms. Over time the stalwarts of the Clubs have passed on as have their "ladies in the kitchen", membership has dropped and the Club rooms have been sold and the Clubs themselves amalgamated. The Rugby fields are still funded by the local ratepayer and maintained by the council - the Clubs can't afford to do it. Their income is probably about the same as what it costs to train a race horse.

Your argument falls down on one fundamental point. Not one of the successful or unsuccesful (by your determination) were accumulating enough savings from profits to maintain their assets. They got by for a long time with the assistance of donations and club member volunteer labour. Some Clubs ensured the inevitable came quicker than others by investing in the wrong assets and not the core racing assets e.g. tracks. Another reality is that Trainers, Owners and Jockeys were largely subsidised by the efforts of those Clubs, their business donors and their volunteers. Every time I hear someone say that a Training Centre runs at a loss the first thing I think is well those that train at it aren't paying enough.

Really? Is that your bias clouding reality? Both Te Akau and Wexford put up YouTube commentary every week as well as Facebook and website updates. Would you like me to create a special Topic for you and aggregate the information available as you don't appear to be very good at finding anything.

Probably would have been better off. However the flaw in the plan was not enough capital was released to fix the issues. As it is there isn't enough to fund operational costs. As us evident from thw comments of many the industry still runs as an amateur hobby rather than as a self sustaining business.

What logic is "plain silly"? You are working from an old paradigm. With the benefit of modern computing and algorithms they spend a lot less time "doing the form" than you realise. The NZTAB may have had numerous bookies pouring over fields and form in the past but since ENTAIN has taken over and more data has become available much of the hard graft is done by computer. Hell I know part-time punters that have developed computer programmes with multi-factor algorithms that produce odds and then compare against the odds on offer to flag value. In fact there are a few posters on BOAY past and present that do that. If they're doing it you'd be mad to think the bookies aren't doing it with all the computing power they have. Well we all know that jumpouts in OZ are akin to our trials so yes it does have relevance. I fail to see what value a trackwork watcher offers and comments from most Trainers I tend to ignore. Owners pay for that information - why should it be available to EVERY punter? That said I've heard information from trainers that more often than not has been turned upside down in a race. I remember my first winner - "Oh we'd be happy if she finished fourth"....bolted in and paid $36!!! No it isn't a waster of time getting the information - afterall the owner pays for it - but the value in terms of its chances in a race are very limited. Generally I've learnt that the best I can hope for from a trainer is "the horse is bright, fit and very happy and there have been no problems in the lead up".

I doubt the pre-race analysis accounted for the extreme track bias though.

Where are the "thousands" going to come from to attend country tracks? Certainly not the country.

In other words - sand.

I don’t know. I can remember taking my piggy bank down to the Post Office to change the coins but can't remember the exchange rate. Knowing Muldoon he probably short changed me!!!

So on a value basis you and @Huey should have trained 5 champions by now? I'm not sure why Pivotal Ten is in the mix. Hardly done much except win some South Island black type. Was a risky purchase as a yearling at $15k. As for Rough Habit he was homebred and raced before he was sold. On that basis there's bound to be a champion for sale on Gavelhouse.

Depends I used pounds as the currency didnt change until July 1967. Not as old as @Huey to remember what time of year the sales were held.

This information has been available for years in other jurisdictions and there is no sign that wagering has dropped off because of it. I know a number of individuals who download the data and process it themselves. I also know that the top trainers have software programmes that analyse race videos for individual horse performance. The days of stopwatches are disappearing. Do you seriously think that bookies analyse every single horse in every single race to set their opening markets? They biggest edge they have is the real time market information. How do you assess value if you don't review race performance? You're kidding? You'd rely on a quote from a Trainer? The better option would be up to date videos with sectionals of jumpouts and trials like they do in Australia - particularly Victoria. Trackwork watching is only useful if sectional times are provided not that I've ever seen a reliable correlation between that and raceday performance.

Harness has that info and the system used at Ellerslie has the distance run by each horse.

Really? Well each to their own. So how do you assess individual performance? Surely not reading the Stewards notes!!!

Yes I agree. Provides a lot of information when reviewing a race. For example I saved the replay of the Canterbury Breeders Stakes and watched a few times. The winner wasn't actually 3 or 4 wide without cover the entrie trip like it looked and as the presenters and commentator observed. The horse actually got cover 1 out and relaxed over some softish sections for 400m or 500m of the first part of the bend. She steadily increased the pace from 500m out (observing the sectionals on screen) which put those behind her in time trouble. Then put in an elite sectional for the last 200m that gave nothing a chance. Observing the sectional times while watching specific horses position gives a better assessment of their performance than post race reviewing the sectionals alone.

Is that why Hong Kong has been doing it for years?

Good point. They have sectionals on Loveracing.nz for most meetings. Ellerslie has the full data for all their races on their website. I reviewed the Trackside recording I kept.

Not all of them. Not that many live in the country nowadays.

Darryl's Joy was sold as a yealing for $1,100. I know it is a difficult concept for you to grasp but $1,100 then is worth $55,000+ today.

Foaled in 1966!!! Sold for $1,100 as a yealing. Which today is the equivalent of over $55,000. Wild Night was cheaper!!!

Owned by Westbury Stud.

Name 5.

Exactly costs SFA. But great information. I first noticed it 1000 Guineas Day when watching a horse I was interested in. Sat 3 wide and I thought "oh no this is going to hurt"! But the early sectionals were easy and I could see the numbers. Reviewed the race afterwards and could see the horse didn't travel as wide as I thought.