Following the repeal of the Electoral Finance Act 2007 on 1 March 2009, the information in this page has been superseded. 

This guidance is provided by the Electoral Commission under Section 136 of the Electoral Finance Act 2007 for the purpose of valuing and returning as an election expense (and donation where required) the commercial value of donated or discounted advertising (eg hoarding/billboard) display space on commercial premises within localities of 50 permanent residents or more.

To use the table

1. Calculate the site value by multiplying the relevant electorate rate x the area (in square metres) x the number of days (rounded up) on display. Values (aggregated by provider) of less than $200 for candidates or third parties or less than $1000 for parties do not need to be included as an expense.

2. In the case of a billboard promoting an electorate candidate and a party the party vote apportionment is to be at the highest Māori or general electorate rate applicable for the billboard site regardless of the electorate in which the candidate is standing.

3. Production and installation costs are additional to the value of advertising space and these must also be considered for inclusion in expense and donations returns as appropriate.

Electorates by category and $ / sqm / day (including GST)

How the rates have been determined

Electorates have been categorised by sorting by electoral population per hectare of land mass, then finding and sense-checking series breaks (considering frequency and size of population centres), and relating these to relevant commercial billboard rates on a conservative basis.

Commercial billboard advertising space takes factors into account such as market pressures, traffic count, and lease costs when pricing billboard space. Electorate population density has been used as a proxy for traffic count.