Property trusts assess quake damage

Property assets owned by listed property trusts have escaped Saturday's earthquake in Christchurch relatively unscathed, with only minor damage reported so far.

At least three trusts own property in the Garden City, including Kiwi Income Property Trust (KIPT), Goodman Property Trust and the National Property Trust.

Freshly listed DNZ Property Fund is also exposed to the Christchurch market.

In a statement today, Kiwi said its two properties in the city suffered minor damage only and would remain operational.

The trust owns the Northlands Shopping Centre and PriceWaterhouseCoopers Centre.

The shopping centre's two supermarkets had traded through the weekend and the remaining mall areas are set to re-open today, although the Hoyts Cinema complex was expected to remain closed due to damaged projection equipment, the trust said.

KIPT's Christchurch properties account for 16 per cent of the trust's portfolio.

National Property Trust's (NPT) Eastgate Shopping Centre was open on Sunday, sustaining only minor damage.

NPT also holds lead leases for the Avonhead Shopping Mall and Hornby Shopping Mall. The Hornby Shopping Mall had some minimal structural damage, the trust said.

NPT general manager Jim Crone said the trust is not anticipating any major costs and was engaging structural engineers to conduct inspections this week.

Goodman Property Trust's (GPT) Glassworks Industry Park, Show Place Office Park and Southpark Industrial Estate ''have revealed no significant damage'', GPT said.

The three properties account for 10 per cent of the trust's $1.5 billion property portfolio - which is fully insured.

''We will be working closely with our customers to ensure safety is maintained and that they can continue their business operations through this very disruptive period for Christchurch,'' GPT chief executive John Dakin said.

DNZ has two Christchurch properties including a distribution centre in Hornby.

The centre suffered damage to its racking systems and to the tenant's stock.

An office building owned by DNZ suffered damage and is currently closed. A full inspection is scheduled today.

The company said the properties represented less than 3 per cent by value of its portfolio, all of which was fully insured for earthquake damage including business interruption insurance for loss of rent.

- BusinessDesk