There have been many reports recently stating that “experts” are seeing a turnaround in several segments of both the commercial and residential real estate markets here in New Zealand. But I find it hard to see this and put credibility on these reports. I justify this by saying there is no other crux that is…
Category: The Market
June 2009 – OCR remains bottomed out at 2.5% – Is This The Turning Point?
The New Zealand economy has been on a downward spiral along with global economies since 2007. Butmany believe that we in New Zealand have reached a turning point. In terms of New Zealands Official Cash Rate I believe we have hit the bottom of the line. It started in June last year when the Official Cash…
Christchurch QV May Statistics With New Zealand Market Comment
Christhchurch Property Trends Property values in Christchurch declined by 8.1% over the past year (calculated over the three months ending May 2009 in comparison to the same period last year), an improvement on the 9.6% annual decline reported in April. The average sale price for the city decreased slightly from $342,929 to $339,695. These annual…
Do You Actually Believe We Have Hit The Bottom Of The Market?
Well if you do I believe your being naive. There has been in the months of late a definite pick up in the market especially in the terms of sales volume which one could almost think that a bounce back is happening. There has been great activity, a lot of sales and new buyers emerging…
The State of Real Estate Around the World: No Signs of Stabilization
Our Housing marketis in worse shape than Australia’s but is also likely to avoid as deep a correction as in the U.S. and Europe. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has cut 575bp since July 2008 to 2.5% in April 2009 but longer-term, fixed mortgage rates have recently begun to rise again due to expectations…
Has The Recession Hit!
I am not going to harp on about any statistics or any comments made by the so called experts. All I would like to see here is a real discussion on what you actually think and what your actually seeing out there on the streets. For several months now I have speaking directly to business…
Reserve Bank Of New Zealand Lowers OCR To 2.5% April 30 2009
New Zealands Official Cash Rate has been cut again to 2.5% which is a further sign that the Reserve Bank is trying to stimulate the economy. Dr Alan Bollard this morning said to the people that he sees the Official Cash Rate being low for around the next 18 months as the economy is finding…
March 2009 QV Statistics And New Zealands Housing Sales Volume
Christchurch This is the latest Press Release from QV. Property values in Christchurch decreased by 9.7% over the last year (calculated over the three months ending March 2009 in comparison to the same period last year), deteriorating further from the 9.1% annual decline reported in February. The average sale price for the city increased slightly…
Renting vs Buying – A Personal Perspective
Many people wonder whether renting or buying a home is better decision. Most of the time, history has shown it is a smarter financial move to purchase a home than to rent. The final decision is unique to each situation of course. Here are a few points to note about both renting and buying. Buying…
Westpac The First New Zealand Bank To Give New Zealanders A Mortgage Holiday
Finally there seems to be a little relief for those who are becoming financially stressed by this global economic downturn. Westpac is the first bank in New Zealand to follow Australia’s lead and offer 12-month mortgage holidays.The decision is part of the bank’s new set of measures to help financially stressed customers. Australia’s biggest banks…
Mortgage Applications Rise Upwards
Here is an interesting article from the Herald Website: Baby boomers are returning to the housing market in droves – but younger first home buyers are still doing it tough. Mortgage applications last month were up 38 per cent compared to the same month last year, and were the highest monthly total since November 2007….
New Zealand Economic Overview March 2009
Summery of New Zealands economy for the quarter March 2009 The NZ economy is yet to find a base. Business confidence surveys are either at, or near, historical lows. Employment intentions are tumbling and investment plans are being shelved. Corporate tax revenue – a key timely indicator of economic activity – has capitulated. Consumer sentiment…
Building Consents Rise As The Last Of The Summer Spend Ups Occur – Winter Is On The Way!
This is an interesting article from the Herald Website which is further indicating that the market could be improving. My honest opinion is that the facts below are just the spike that naturally occurs at this time of year. The numbers we are experiencing are well below what we have known for many years. Our…
April 1st Tax Cuts Loom – How Much Extra Will This Mean For You?
The short answer is that for people on the average wage of $48,500 a year will get an extra $15.66 a week and those on $100,000 will benefit by $18.46 according ti Bill English and his Tax Cut plan. From Wednesday when the tax cuts roll out people will have a little extra money in…
Mortgagee Sales are up – Whats happening out there?
Today I read a very interesting article on stuff.co.nz about an Auction that a good friend of mine Roland Lina conducted last night in New Plymouth. It highlights a good point about what is happening in the market. The article reads as follows. Three words are dominating Taranaki’s real estate pages “sell, sell, sell”. As…
House Hunters International Coming To New Zealand!
An opportunity exists NOW for a property buyer in New Zealand to participate in an International TV documentary. If you’re looking to buy a home or vacation property and would like to have it documented on an American TV show that airs in several different countries around the world, including New Zealand then I need…
Latest QV Figures Are Confirms a Continuing Trend
This is an update from QV for the month of January. From where I was on the ground there seemed to be alot of positives and enthusiasm as the interest rates have come back to record lows and this coupled by the drop in prices making housing affordability more realistic than it has been for…
New Zealand Housing Affordability Is The Second Worst In The World
The article below is an article that has been published in the New Zealand Herald and after reading it though I thought was one of the most informative and interesting articles that details the problems that we are facing in terms of our New Zealand housing market. Simply put the prices of our houses in…
OCR Cut 29th January 2009 to 3.5%
This cut in the Official Cash Rate has been very much anticipated by most. We all should be aware of the huge hurt the global economy is in and the huge effect this is having on almost every single market we know. This rate drop is hoped to bring back some business confidence which is…
The Property Market in 2008
This is an excert from QV in their montly reports. 2008 has been a pivotal year for the NZ property market with a sustained drop in property values for the first time since 1998. QV’s December Residential Price Movement report shows property values fell by 7.4% during the year. “Property values held reasonably flat through…
Selling your house in 2009
Marketing, price, presentation Christmas and New Year is over. We are pretty much now beginning the 2009 year off back into work. I was back at work today to a bombardment of paperwork to be completed. The joys of life. As I said in my previous posts I said 2009 will be a year for…
New Zealands Household Debt Falls For First Time in 17 Years
Lets start 2009 with a little less bad news from the economys point of view. We are now starting to see some of the effects on the credit crunch and how it is affecting the spending habbits of New Zealanders. In November New Zealand household borrowing fell for the first time in 17 years. This…
Crude Oil Drops To Record Lows as World Economy Crashes
In September I wrote a blog post here about the price of crude oil and how it was falling and yet the price of fuel at the pump was not dropping. Since then I have recieved over 200 emails from readers who have all voiced their opinion in this matter and I think they all…
New Zealanders Moving To Australia In Record Numbers.
I just read an article published on stuff.co.nz and its one that I thiought I need to share with you because of the impact this will be having on the housing market in New Zealand. The article is below: The exodus of migrants to Australia hit a record in the past year, while tourist numbers…
The 4 Real Estate Seasons And Its Effects
During the last few years the real estate market was rising all over and we were experiencing a sellers market. The media went wild over the frenzy and everywhere you looked there was someone or something telling you that real estate was HOT HOT HOT! Prices were going through the roof and there was unprecedented…
What Are You Waiting For?
Its official. Sales volume is the lowest it has been for 16 years 11 months and the market has never been harder to work. Sellers, Buyers and agents… We are all having to adjust, compromise and accept that the days of the boom are well and truly over. And property prices have in fact in…
Christchurch Real Estate Market November/December 2008 Moving Along… Maybe
The Christchurch Real Estate Market was alive and well today. Harcourts Grenadier held 18 Auctions today. After all were conducted the results were quite good. 8 properties sold under the hammer, 2 were sold prior and 2 were sold after the property was passed in and it sounds as though a few will be under…
Is This The Market Bottom Or Just Traditional Summer Rush? December 2008
Today QV (Quotable Value) released their November Data on the New Zealand housing market and it’s fair to say that these statistics will have a few in this industry a little happier, but I feel the need to think is there more to it. QV have said this: QV’s November statistics for the residential property…
Banks World Wide Slashing Official Cash Rates
Interest Rates Around the World are tumbling down as the Reserve Banks of different countries are trying to stabilize their economies as one of the worlds harshest financial crashes crunches down on everybody. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand was the first to kick of cuts in December with a massive 150 basis point cut…
December 4 – OCR Drops to 5% … So What Will This Actually Mean For Us?
Todays OCR rate cut of 1.5% from 6.5% to 5% is a bold move by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and is one that is hope to put some stimulation into our very slow economy. The OCR drop will mean to us as consumers a whole host of things that will save us all…