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 from northern Asia are slumping badly because of the global economic slowdown.
Australia’s stronger economy is an increasingly large safety valve for Kiwi workers in tougher times.
In the past 12 months, the number leaving to live or work in Australia would fill Wellington’s Westpac Stadium, with another 800 standing outside.
The net loss to Australia in the past year was 35,300 almost 100 people a day. That is the biggest exodus on record. Previous peaks in migrants came after the 1987 share crash and in the late 1970s.
New Zealand gained 3600 permanent or long-term residents in the past 12 months.
In November alone, 600 more people left New Zealand than arrived. That is a bad sign for an already struggling housing market, with Westpac economists expecting house prices to fall by another 5 per cent next year.
Tourism is also facing a tougher year. The industry employs one in 10 workers in New Zealand and some economists expect the sector to be badly affected by the global recession, cutting into the $1 million an hour that overseas tourists spend here.
Tourist arrivals in November were down 4 per cent on the same month last year. But there was a 46 per cent dive in Japanese tourists for the month. South Korean and Chinese visitor numbers also fell sharply.
Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said he expected tourism to be down by 6 per cent or so in the peak summer season. “But our concern would be from March, the low season, as bookings are quite light.
“We will have to batten down the hatches to get through a tougher time.”
New Zealand would get some benefit from the big fall in the kiwi dollar, which meant tourists typically spent more while they were in New Zealand. Lower world oil prices would also eventually result in lower air fares.
In November, tourist numbers were down sharply because Japanese parents cancelled school charter flights for 6000 children after the high New Zealand dollar pushed up the cost of thetrip.
But Tourism Industry Association chief executive Tim Cossar said the fall in the dollar meant New Zealand was a good value holiday destination.
Backpacker hostels, holiday parks and motels were so far unaffected by the recession, but bookings “were looking tough” after February, he said.
However, the domestic tourist market was still strong and Australian tourist numbers were holding up.
Source: stuff.co.nz by James Weir
Will this be impacting on our New Zealand Housing Market. There is no doubt in my mind that for the short term it will be. To create a balance in the market there needs to be equal supply and demand. At the moment there is substantially more property on the market than buyers. In my last post this is the classic signs of decline.
I asked my followers on twitter why you think so many people are leaving for over seas and most of them said it was for increased wages. Although the cost of living is higher over in Australia people in this recession time aren’t so much looking at the bottom dollar but the top dollar and this is where we are suffering at the moment.
The effects of this on the Housing market in New Zealand may aid in bringing prices down further but there is no way of telling this. But what it will do is put more stock onto the market and add even more time to how long it takes to sell a property.
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