There are five strong forces acting to pull back the level of intensity of buyer demand for residential property at the moment. But just because the boom has ended does not mean a crash is on its way.
On average, NZ house prices have risen by 35% since March 2020 when we went into the first nationwide lockdown. This week we're focusing on the growing list of reasons why the pace of house price inflation will slow quite sharply over 2022.
I know from experience that accurately predicting house price movements over short periods of time is impossible. But one can balance the various factors in play and see what the trend seems to be and where it may be heading.
I love property. Early last year I wrote that I thought we were going into the last great property boom based on ultra-low interest rates and the increasing importance of having a home in the post COVID world.
The government this week clarified details of its housing tax policy changes announced on March 23, and they were slightly less bad than expected.
My own experience of two first home buyers 13 years apart shows that servicing hasn’t changed all that much. It's as hard today as it was 13 years ago. But what it doesn’t show is the sizeable part of our population that are locked out of the housing market altogether.
Nationwide average house sale prices rose by 2% in August. This followed a 2.4% rise in July, 1% gain in June, 0.8% rise in May and just a 0.5% rise in April.
There are a growing number of factors in play which suggest that while demand for housing will remain firm, we've entered the end game for the period of strong house price rises well exceeding the rate of growth in household incomes.
Whenever things like the global pandemic, the 2008-09 Global Financial Crisis, or tax policy alterations happen such as those announced on March 23, most of us can take a view on what the likely impact will be. Sometimes these views can be horribly wrong.
When it comes to discussions about housing in New Zealand it is almost heresy to say anything other than that there is a housing shortage, a housing crisis.
Newsroom’s Alexia Russell sat down with Chief Squirrel JB to chat about what the Government's recent announcement means for first home buyers. Does it remove the stumbling blocks, or is it still hard as ever for young Kiwis to get onto the property ladder? Are there going to be any unintentional consequences?
I was asked to give a radio interview last week on the topic of the Green Party’s policies which they believe will make a sustained difference in house prices. The timing was perfect as I was just about to put pen to paper for my latest column for Squirrel – so here are my thoughts.