Retired feel the cost as prices in paradise skyrocket

Waiheke's Edna Hitt, 84, is determined that Auckland City's proposed rates rise will not force her out. Picture / Paul Estcourt

Waiheke Island is paradise to Edna Hitt, but soaring property values are making it hard for the 84-year-old pensioner to make ends meet.

She moved from Te Atatu South to the island 18 years ago to find peace after her husband died, buying a one-bedroom cottage at Blackpool for $85,000. The move sealed a love affair with the island begun when she and her late husband first visited it in the 1960s.

Her island life is typical of the elderly population on the island, who make up a larger share than in Auckland City. She likes to walk and read and every Thursday attends the Care and Craft group at a local hall, knitting bed socks and rugs over a morning cuppa and lunch priced at $3.

It sounds the idyllic retirement, but Edna Hitt finds herself on the receiving end of an invasion by wealthy people who can fork out $100 for lunch at a vineyard restaurant and millions for waterfront mansions.

Soaring house prices have seen the value of her house rise from $150,000 to $320,000 in the latest property revaluations, resulting in her rates rising 33 per cent from $641 to $855. That does not include any general rates increase of 5 per cent or more.

She said a weekly increase of $4 or more might not sound much, but it's scary surviving on the single pension. There's $80 a month for the St John Lifelink medical service, $30 for lawnmowing, food to buy, clothes from the Red Cross store and few, if any, treats.

"I will have to manage somehow because I'm not leaving this place," she said.

She can apply for a rates rebate under the Government's expanded scheme starting in July but, she says, "I hate holding my hand out for a handout. It affects my dignity but I will have to do it because I have no choice."