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A war of words has broken out in a popular coastal resort north of Auckland, with a business association accusing a property analyst of "economic sabotage".
The Mangawhai Business Association has paid for adverts slamming economic researcher Rodney Dickens for his assessment of the resort.
Dickens, from Whangarei-based Strategic Risk Analysis, described Mangawhai as having a "sea" of 450 unsold sections and said the "speculative excesses" of an investor-led boom were to blame.
One developer was offering sections at a 25 per cent discount and another was knocking more than 40 per cent off the Government valuation, he said. But the association accused Dickens of inaccuracy, claiming his report was causing lenders and buyers to avoid the township.
"Economic `intelligence' being circulated, that claims to be an assessment of the property market in Mangawhai, may be likened more to economic sabotage."
The advert, an open letter, claims Dickens wrongly concluded Mangawhai was overstocked with sections after "driving around for an hour and then doing `research' on the internet". It says the number of sections was 223.
The Herald on Sunday spoke to business association member and property developer Mark Rowbotham. He claimed Dickens was trying to boost his website by writing "sensational" articles. While sales in Mangawhai _ like everywhere else _ had slowed, Dickens' reports were influential and damaging the resort.
It also accused Dickens of wrongly claiming sections in Mangawhai were "overpriced"."Show any place less than 1.5 hours drive from Auckland that you can buy a section for $125,000," it argued.
Dickens, a former ASB Bank researcher, says: "We are not trying to get at Mangawhai. It's actually far better placed than the Far North."
A Bayleys report last week said coastal waterfront properties had reached their "high-tide" value limit but remained popular.
