The housing market monster continues to grow, causing panic and rapture, depending on who you are. Michael Andrew highlights some of the most vexing stats. It was supposed to be a quiet summer – the lazy, festive period that would typically see the masses forgoing open homes for the open road, and property investors taking … Read more
For two decades, under both National and Labour governments, housing costs have risen far faster than wages. Here’s a horrific graph that shows by just how much. Last Thursday saw the first of what will no doubt be dozens of housing-related set pieces from Labour, wherein they announced 8,000 public and transitional houses. Or, as … Read more
Renting in Wellington can seem like a nightmare, but you just need to look a little harder. We’ve found some of the best-value flats in town. It’s been a long week for Wellingtonians, who’ve had their city shat on multiple times, a burden they didn’t need on top of the literal shit flowing through the … Read more
Currently, investors are essentially subsidised to outbid homebuyers. Instead, why not give homebuyers a tax cut and make the speculators pay? Have you ever wanted to throw a party but worried no one would come? My wife and I thought of having a party this year to celebrate paying off our mortgage but quickly realised … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Property market set for scorching summer after Reserve Bank announcements, National makes big reshuffle, and Auckland Council facing much bigger deficit. A big day for the Reserve Bank, with a range of announcements on monetary policy, with big implications for the housing market. First of all, … Read more
Super-low interest rates are a blessing to those already on the housing ladder. For those still renting and without a deposit, it is yet another nail in the long-sealed coffin of potential home ownership. Last week, when Heartland Bank became the first lender in New Zealand history to offer a home loan interest rate below … Read more
Real estate firms are hanging on to millions in wage subsidies despite a red-hot housing market recovery since June, reports Brent Melville of BusinessDesk. Three of the country’s leading realtors — Harcourts, Bayleys, and Barfoot & Thompson — claimed a combined $8 million in wage support for more than 1,000 employees when pandemic-induced lockdowns were … Read more
New Zealand’s housing market is going ballistic, defying economic forecasts and historic trends. Michael Andrew asks the experts what’s causing the clamour and what it means long term. Six months after Covid-19 first reached our shores, New Zealand’s economy has officially moved into recession. GDP is down 12.2% – the largest drop on record – … Read more
While banks predict house prices will still fall, by how much depends on a number of factors – including location, reports Brent Melville for BusinessDesk. Banks are being less than apocalyptic on their expectations for a post-Covid housing market correction, which could be as low as 5%, although they warn of potentially significant regional variations. … Read more
In the second part of our new series with Kiwibank answering your questions about Covid-19’s impact on New Zealanders’ finances, a reader asks what the mortgage holiday offer is and what it would mean for their repayments. Kiwibank’s Nicole Pervan responds. Dear Nicole, I’d like your help in understanding the mortgage holiday offer. I am … Read more
A new poem by Island Bay poet James Brown. Insulation My barber says that people no longer being able to afford houses is a no-brainer opportunity. He turns on the tele. Cue the leafy suburbs. Cue the dawn chorus. The tent of realty is specially crafted to respond to inequity. Its breathable fabric repels applicants … Read more
Simplicity has fired a shot across traditional mortgage providers’ bows – and says if you think home loan rates are as low as they can go, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Mortgage rates could be a whole lot lower, argues KiwiSaver provider Simplicity which has launched the cheapest home loan in the market. From November … Read more
Laura O’Connell Rapira looks at what benefit cuts and successive generations of an unregulated housing market has done to welfare and housing for those in the margins. For the first seven or so years of my life, I was raised mostly by my mum on the domestic purposes benefit (my dad is a big part … Read more
New Zealand’s largest construction company and controversial owner of the disputed Ihumātao land near Auckland airport has made a $164m profit, a big turnaround from its losses last year. Business editor Maria Slade analyses what it all means. What has Fletcher Building announced? The construction and building products company with operations on both sides of … Read more
The Lightbulb asks innovators and entrepreneurs how they turned their ideas into reality. This week we talk to Brad Parsonson, co-founder of Miuwi (pronounced me-you-we) – a platform that allows you to own a home faster and cheaper through co-ownership. First of all, give us your elevator pitch for Miuwi. It’s been described as ‘the … Read more
It already looked like the housing market could take off again, and then the Reserve Bank went and made that a whole lot more likely. David Hargreaves analyses the forecasts, in this piece originally published on Interest.co.nz. It may seem the height of absurdity to talk about the possibility of the house market taking off … Read more
Everything from competition around supplying materials to how many lights you have in a room can determine the cost of building a house, says Box co-founder Dan Heyworth. You’re not imagining things – the cost of designing and building really is going crazy. In February 2017, the McKinsey Global Institute studied the effect of implementing construction … Read more
Former ski patroller Julie Scott has taken on a challenge of a very different kind: finding low-cost homes for families in New Zealand’s most expensive property market. Not all heroes wear capes. Sometimes they walk among us and perform their magic without needing to transform into someone different. It’s the seemingly ordinary-looking jobs that can … Read more
Financial adviser Mike Warrington is warning his clients that investment properties are no longer the great little earners they once were. What does this mean for renters? Rental property investment is progressively being defined by our regulators as a commercial activity and as a result, will be impacted more heavily by future costs. In due … Read more
Rent Week 2018: His friend did it, so he thought he would try it too and save some money. In his last year at university he started living in a van. Now, two years later, he’s moving on. As told to Jamie Small. Recently I sold the van I lived in for two years. And … Read more
As Housing NZ prepares to develop the corner near Russell Brown’s house in Point Chevalier, he muses on the redevelopment, gentrification and spiralling growth in real estate values of the Auckland suburb he calls home. Last week, I wandered around the corner to watch the news crews assemble outside Jacinda Ardern’s Point Chevalier home in … Read more
Auckland Council has released the city’s new property valuations and some people who should know better have taken the chance to say all sorts of stupid things. Simon Wilson sets them straight. Jo Holmes from the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance was on RNZ’s Morning Report today saying that Aucklanders will be paying “thousands of dollars” more … Read more
Does your house earn more than you do? For almost every Aucklander the answer is yes. So, asks Don Rowe, what sort of job would you need to do if you wanted to earn as much as the home you live in? With the new property valuation figures released today by Auckland Council, we now … Read more
With house prices at an all-time high, an increasing number of young people are thinking about pooling their resources and buying a property together. But is it really a good idea? In the first part of a series on investment alternatives for ‘Generation Rent’, Jenee Tibshraeny looks at the financial implications of buying with friends. … Read more
House prices are how high now? Maria Slade takes a look behind an alarming graph and finds NZ’s housing ‘bubble’ may be overblown. Canadian commentator and investment adviser Hilliard McBeth alarmed the Twittersphere this week when he posted a graph showing New Zealand house prices 65 times higher than they were in 1970. This compares … Read more
The Block NZ signifies everything that’s wrong with our tax system. Takapuna tax expert Terry Baucher fills Rebecca Stevenson in on how we can get a lump of cash, and keep it all to ourselves. After we all recovered from the horror that was The Block NZ finale, it’s a good time to learn why … Read more
The live auction final of The Block NZ tonight delivered more thrills and spills than Peter Wolfkamp on a motorised chilly bin. Devoted blockaholic Jane Yee was in the thick of it, and bring us this harrowing report. What a night to be at the Grand Millennium. I arrived expecting to be part of an … Read more