Economy
There are over 22,000 businesses located in North Shore City, contributing to over 6% of New Zealand's GDP. The city also tops the nation's growth rates for numbers of businesses, growing 29.3% between 1998 and 2002.
The last five years have seen tremendous growth in the Albany area. This once quiet rural suburb has become the commercial centre of the North Shore. A number of retailers like Westfield are building or have built "super stores" in the area, anticipating ongoing commercial growth and expansion. The area has also experienced the construction of intense cheaper housing, and thousands of acres of farmland has been turned into mini-suburbs comprising hundreds of houses all of a similar design. As such, the Albany area has attracted hundreds of millions of investment dollars.
The Royal New Zealand Navy has its main base in Devonport which is a significant employer and industry.
Residential development on the North Shore continues to rapidly sprawl northwards. The Rodney township of Orewa and the Whangaparaoa Peninsula, 25 kilometres north of Takapuna, was once something of a holiday resort. It is now linked by the Northern Motorway and may eventually be continuous with the North Shore's northward urban expansion.
Some parts of the North Shore boasts some of the most expensive real estate in New Zealand. The stretch of coast that runs North from Takapuna Beach to Milford, often referred to as the "Golden Mile", has many properties there have sold for several million dollars (NZ$) particularly because of the beaches, Lake Pupuke, popular schools and shopping centres. In 2005, one beachfront property sold for $12.8 million. Rents in North Shore City, as well as property prices, are high in relative terms, with average weekly rents (in 2002) of $243 versus $237 for Wellington and $236 for Auckland.
Read more about this topic: North Shore City
Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“Everyone is always in favour of general economy and particular expenditure.”
—Anthony, Sir Eden (1897–1977)
“Unaware of the absurdity of it, we introduce our own petty household rules into the economy of the universe for which the life of generations, peoples, of entire planets, has no importance in relation to the general development.”
—Alexander Herzen (1812–1870)
“Cities need old buildings so badly it is probably impossible for vigorous streets and districts to grow without them.... for really new ideas of any kind—no matter how ultimately profitable or otherwise successful some of them might prove to be—there is no leeway for such chancy trial, error and experimentation in the high-overhead economy of new construction. Old ideas can sometimes use new buildings. New ideas must use old buildings.”
—Jane Jacobs (b. 1916)