Blog

April 2017 Gradual stabilisation of residential property market The number of sales has dropped dramatically and this has been happening over the past 15-17 months. The demand is not as great as it has been. There’s an underlying shortage of property for sale across Auckland. The Chinese finance has disappeared, also contributing to the slowdownRead more

March 2017 Banks tightening their lending criteria We’re finding banks are getting tougher on lending to home buyers. This has slowed down the market considerably. Banks are being more stringent about home loan criteria. If this continues, it will become more challenging for vendors to sell their properties within the expected timeframe. This change hasRead more

February 2017 Residential property market taking a breather It’s still a buyers’ market, and auctions have now become pointless. Most purchasers want set prices and who can blame them? It removes a lot of the pressure. House prices are consolidating. The media are right that the median price has fallen, but this is mainly becauseRead more

January 2017 Our new normal  Just as I predicted in my blog in September Auckland has become a buyers’ market. I predicted this would last for three to six months. Well, it’s still a buyers’ market.  After a shortage of housing stock in recent years, there are now more houses for sale. But there areRead more

December 2016 More bank loan interference on its way?  What was the Reserve Bank thinking when it asked the Government for the authority to restrict lending to home buyers whose income is considered insufficient to service their home loan? Most banks apply their own lending criteria. So why not leave it to them to makeRead more

November 2016 Compromise and sacrifice a key to home ownership Tired of listening to people saying housing is unaffordable? Well, it’s actually been that way for the past 40 years in Auckland. And as we’ve now grown into a major international city, housing will remain unaffordable, particularly for first-home buyers. So what’s the solution? YouRead more

October 2016 Apartment projects in freefall The NZ Herald reported on 11 October that ‘thirty-five Auckland multi-unit residential developments have been cancelled in the last year’. This means thousands of planned apartments are not being built. It’s bad news for a city that’s already over 40,000 dwellings short. It also doesn’t bode well for the recently signed-offRead more

September 2016 Has Auckland changed from a sellers’ to a buyers’ market? In my view, the Auckland market is turning into a buyers’ market. This will be the case for the next three to six months. In the rest of New Zealand, it’s still a sellers’ market. In the Auckland market buyer numbers have fallen.Read more

August 2016 Council needs to get its own house in order to deliver the Unitary Plan objectives The Auckland Unitary Plan Independent Hearings Panel delivered its recommendations on the Proposed Auckland Unitary Plan (PAUP) to the council on 22 July 2016. The Panel has recommended that 60% of Auckland be rezoned for higher density of twoRead more

July 2016 Private landlords and homebuyers need to be vigilant about potential P-contamination Private landlords pay a high price if a tenant has contaminated their property with P (methamphetamine). A complete refit after contamination can exceed $100,000. In very serious contamination cases the property has to be demolished. A landlord can lose weeks of tenantRead more

June 2016 Is Paula Bennett’s $5000 offer to struggling or homeless families a life saver or a potential can of worms? If you’re a Housing NZ tenant and you can’t afford to live in Auckland – move out. End of story. Auckland is unaffordable for people on benefits and that’s a fact. Auckland has alsoRead more

June 2016 More robust tenant selection processes are needed for Housing NZ eligibility Why does Housing NZ continue to rent houses to no-hopers? Such as those tenants who use their taxpayer-subsidised house to use or cook P (Meth). Or those tenants who don’t look after their house and turn it into a slum. Why provideRead more