"Buy anything and wait" has been all the strategy you needed to make money in property over the last few decades. But as the world enters an extended period of low growth, doing well as a property investor will require a more active approach.
Until recently, falling interest rates meant that no matter what you were investing in you almost couldn't go wrong... Asset prices across the board just kept going up. But those lucrative days are behind us.
Ballooning costs and tougher servicing requirements are causing a lot of headaches for property investors these days, and planning ahead has never been more important.
Property investors are probably feeling a bit disillusioned with the lack of "easy" opportunities out in the market of late. But there is one option which is coming into its own - and that's the option of develop-and-hold.
Bank servicing requirements have become increasingly difficult to pass in recent months, causing all sorts of chaos for property investors caught short when it comes time to buy or sell. So, where do you turn when traditional lenders say no?
For those who have strayed down the treacherous path of having all your loans with one bank, the consequences have started to bite.
Development companies have been recently finding that client enquiries are falling away. People can see prices falling so will naturally feel the longer they wait perhaps the cheaper the construction cost will be.
Between recent legislative and bank policy changes, and the increasing likelihood of a recession, it looks like we should be hunkering down for a period of pretty significant uncertainty. So, how can property investors protect themselves in the current environment?
Caution is advised for property investors, as New Zealand starts to feel the impact of recent legislative and bank policy changes.
The changing nature of the housing market has seen a rapid increase in the amount of terraced housing under development. Even experienced developers like terraced housing.
Almost three and a half months have now passed since the March 23 announcement of some radical changes in tax rules for investors in residential property. The expectation has been that investors will sell up in disgust, but there's no statistical evidence of a flood of properties hitting the market.
I continue to hear stories about investors selling off their properties in disgust at the government’s proposed tax changes. But are investors about to bail out of the market?