I get asked daily what’s happening with interest rates. To answer this question, it’s useful to first define what may affect interest rates. The major influence on interest rates is inflation. As inflation rises, interest rates rise to curb inflation (spending). As inflation falls, interest rates fall to spur spending and economic growth.
As we pass the shortest day and I struggle to get out of bed at a reasonable time, let’s look at 2018 so far.
Squirrel is often talking about tight credit conditions in terms of residential property, but what’s happening in the commercial space?....
A few weeks ago JB presented at a property investment workshop on the housing market, the economy, and the effect technology is having on the economy globally.
We ran a seminar recently where we were lucky enough to hear from the design champion for Auckland and that led me to thinking: if Auckland was a company, would I buy it?
In typical tabloid fashion, the media desperately try to make news out of anything that drives fear and every eight weeks or so we have the anticipated build up to an OCR announcement.
The media loves a sensational headline. And in true form it's gone to town on the recent movement in global share markets. Before we panic, let's just look at the big picture.
As we’ve been expecting for some time, house prices have softened and continue to soften.
As we’ve noted for some time there are some big forces in play that are increasingly changing the way our economies work. None more so than the rise of technology and in particular, robots and artificial intelligence.
The global economy is still in a muddle. So it’s difficult to get a clear gauge on what will happen this year. It certainly won’t be boring.
It’s that time of the year. Media commentators are lining up to provide a “guess” (aka forecast) as to what might happen this year. Our turn.
Banks are blaming higher mortgage rates on higher funding costs even with the OCR at historic lows. That’s a convenient half truth. There are three factors in play.