Land being considered in the development of affordable housing in Tauranga is being offered at auction.
A 20.95 hectare block of land off Adler Drive in Ohauiti, currently used as a three-canopy kiwifruit orchard and grazing, is going on the block on March 25, one week after a council hearing to determine whether that land will be included in the Tauranga Housing Accord.
The land is broken into two parcels, one of which is already zoned for residential development.
The other parcel of land, referred to as Area B, is zoned for rural use.
On March 17, one week before the auction, the Tauranga City Council will announce whether Area B will be rezoned for development.
If both sites are developed, up to 180 homes on sections of different sizes, starting from 500 square metres, could be built.
Bayleys Tauranga salesman Jeremy Pryor said while the land could be subdivided into a small number of lifestyle blocks, the land's higher value lay in the subdivision of smaller residential sections.
"We expect interested parties will undertake due diligence between now and auction day," he said.
"The obvious final piece of that due diligence will be basing land values on two possibilities from the council's decision - one, that the two blocks of land are included in the Tauranga Housing Accord, and two, that the two blocks of land are excluded from the Tauranga Housing Accord," he said.
"Those two scenarios will have markedly different end results for the housing density of the land, and therefore, as a consequence, the assessment of the land value will be markedly different."
The owner of the land, who did not want his name used, said an engineer who had been involved with developments in the area had got in contact with him when told by the council that it was investigating potential land for the housing accord.
"We bought the land in 1986 and bought more over the next few years," he said.
"It was orchards and grazing land."
The owner said he did not know how much the land was worth.
"It's worth how much someone will pay for it."