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Confirmation of the earlier than expected restoration of interest expense deductibility has not produced an extra surge in demand. The demand seems to be steadily increasing rather than surging. But what lies ahead?

Kiwi were chucked onto a wild house price rollercoaster in the wake of the first COVID-19 lockdown — but was this an exclusive ride for us, or have other countries been on the same ride?

Central banks the world over have a bit of a bad habit of reactionary decision making. After overstimulating the economy big time when the pandemic hit by dropping rates to record lows, they were much too slow to jack rates up again when inflation started running rampant. And it's created such a big mess that Squirrel guest blogger, Rodney Dickens, reckons we're in for an extended battle to get us out of it again.

The coming weakness in our economy would imply at a minimum no recovery in the housing market and maybe a continuation of the weakness since late-2021. But there are many other factors in play — so will the recently developed upward momentum continue into 2024?

The RBNZ's hard-line approach to rate hikes seems to have inflation (slowly but surely) tracking in the right direction. But according to Squirrel guest blogger, Rodney Dickens, there's one factor in particular which is going to make it a long, tough road to get us back where we need to be.

Welcome to Live at the Nut Bar where Squirrel Founder John Bolton (better known as JB) and Chief David Cunningham sit down weekly to chew the fat about things like finance, the economy, investing and what's happening with mortgage interest rates. Knowing these two, there are plenty of laughs along the way as well as the odd debate, of course.

Even some of NZ's smartest economic minds hadn't picked that this latest spike in interest rates would be quite as swift and brutal as it's been. But according to Rodney Dickens, the writing was on the wall for all to see - so why weren't Kiwi borrowers warned?

Two new interesting things of relevance to the NZ residential real estate market have happened over the past fortnight: Firstly, a striking turnaround in migration flows into New Zealand and secondly, the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.

Can the Reserve Bank get the balance right, bringing inflation under control without taking it too far, and sending us hurtling for a hard landing? Rodney Dickens says, if history's anything to go by, the chances aren't good.

"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.

The good news? Many signs seem to indicate that inflation is starting to come under control. The not so good news? Wage pressure could send us into a wage price spiral that prolongs the battle.