Three signs that the market is turning
It’s been a tough sixteen months for kiwi homeowners and buyers. Ever since the double-whammy of the moronic changes to the Consumer Credit Finance Act, introduced in December 2021, and the dramatic increases in mortgage interest rates which started in early 2022, the property market has taken hit after hit […]
Why are we so angry about housing inequality?
The New Zealand Herald and NZME recently published the findings of an extensive survey on the attitudes of kiwis toward a range of issues to find out what had unified and what had divided the country. Titled ‘The New New Zealand: Rebuilding Better’, the survey concluded that New Zealand has […]
Could we ‘own nothing and be happy’?
An old saying, attributed to Winston Churchill, states that “capitalism is the worst economic system, except for all the others”. What Churchill actually said, in a speech to the British House of Commons on 11 November 1947, is that “democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those […]
Can the Government really control house prices?
Not too long ago some people were complaining about rising house prices and demanding that the Government take action to bring them under control. Now, house prices are declining, and some are demanding, equally strongly, that the Government should step in and do something to stop them from dropping further. […]
Should you wait until prices drop further before buying a home?
I talk to a lot of people about the property market, and I’ve learnt that there are a handful of questions which come up more regularly than any others. These are. “Is the market about to crash?”; “What’s going to happen to interest rates?”; and “Should I buy now or […]
Is the property market really in freefall?
Over the years that I’ve been commentating on the New Zealand property market my primary message has always been consistent – ‘focus on the data’. Why? Because, amid a cacophony of opinions and an avalanche of views from commentators telling you what they ‘think’ the market will do, only the […]
Is it wrong to be ‘too’ successful?
There’s a lot to celebrate about living in New Zealand. We enjoy a great quality of life and, generally, a high standard of living – and we live in a nation where it’s still possible to be successful in your chosen field or endeavour, regardless of whether that success is […]
Why are the trading banks ignoring the Reserve Bank?
I’m getting to the age where I feel like I’m turning into one of the two crusty old guys who used to appear on weekly episodes of ‘The Muppet Show’. ‘Statler and Waldorf’ were a pair of Muppet characters who were best known for their cantankerous opinions and shared penchant […]
Have we seen the end of rising house prices?
Over the past fifteen years, I’ve talked a lot about the belief that New Zealand house prices broadly double every ten years. For a lot of that time, I was talking to property investors and those ‘in the know’ – but more recently my ideas have entered the mainstream to […]
How to handle a drop in house prices
There’s a lot of conflicting information about what’s happening to the property market right now and some wildly different figures being thrown around to describe what’s happening to house prices. Frankly, we won’t really know exactly where things sit for a few months and we have the benefit of perspective […]
Is property still the best thing to invest in?
Every so often an economist will release a new report aimed at undermining the benefits of property ownership and claiming that property is a poor investment and adds nothing to the productive economy. Essentially, the claim is that owning a home (or several homes) adds nothing to productivity (the measure […]