Summer reissue: Homeownership has long been touted as the great Kiwi dream, but not everyone’s looking for a permanent fix. Jihee Junn explores the rising phenomenon of renters by choice. First published February 25, 2020. Even if I had a hundred grand sitting in the bank for me to spend right now, I’m not sure … Read more
For extreme auctioneers, selling houses isn’t a nightmare – it’s a craft. Josie Adams talks to National Real Estate Auctioneering champ Ned Allison about discovering his talent, and what it takes to be a two-time winner. Every year real estate agents from around the country are locked in a room. Their phones are taken, and … 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
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Covid case numbers rise again, modelling shows the toll taking no action could have had, and warnings of logistical crunch at ports. As the number of cases of Covid-19 rises into the hundreds, clusters are starting to emerge. There are now 283 cases, with seven people … Read more
Homeownership has long been touted as the great Kiwi dream, but not everyone’s looking for a permanent fix. Jihee Junn explores the rising phenomenon of renters by choice. Even if I had a hundred grand sitting in the bank for me to spend right now, I’m not sure buying a house would be my first … Read more
The NBR’s Rich List is always a big day for New Zealand’s wealthy elite. So who’s on it, who’s up, who’s down, and how did they get there? Here are 10 things we learned. Technology still isn’t a golden ticket. Among the top 50 entries, there are a grand total of four tech entries. And of … Read more
Along with no CGT, the Labour government is left with other tax headaches like what to do about sugar consumption, the environment, and tax thresholds that haven’t changed in a decade, writes Terry Baucher. Perhaps the Tax Working Group was fatally compromised from the outset when the taxation of the family home was excluded from … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: More defections shake British politics, massive hole in NZ’s biosecurity defences revealed, and Privacy Commissioner makes intervention in self-ID debate. We’re going international today, because there have been hugely significant developments in British politics overnight. The established party system in Britain is imploding, with MPs from both … Read more
Property owners learn their fate on Thursday with the Tax Working Group‘s big reveal on capital capital gains tax. But whatever happens, it won’t be the housing panacea Generation Rent is hoping for, warns TOP’s Geoff Simmons. Here’s a message for young people who don’t yet own a home. In the coming months you will … Read more
Howls of indignation over state housing evictions based on spurious meth testing have masked the reality of New Zealand’s two-speed P standard. Veronica Crichton admitted that she and her friends had been smoking meth in their Gate Pa, Tauranga home. She even got her landlord to help her evict one P-affected flatmate. She and another … Read more
Politicians have been ignoring pleas to control the wild west property management industry for over a decade, including the latest lobbying effort. The housing minister is unmoved by calls from a coalition of 26 organisations to regulate rental property managers. Social change agency Anglican Advocacy is leading a lobby to rein in the uncontrolled property … Read more
The show Renters is a morality play about the sufferings inflicted on landlords by their terrible tenants. Hayden Donnell talks to one of the show’s stars ahead of its seventh season, and tries to convince her to support pro-tenant rental reform. It’s impossible to dislike Pru Morrell. The star of TVNZ’s reality series Renters is … 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
Are people who earn decent salaries too privileged to be thrown a bone by the government? Jenée Tibshraeny thinks not. This story first appeared on interest.co.nz. I would like to thank Housing Minister Phil Twyford for validating my generation’s “Ponsonby problems” as real ones. By setting the income caps for KiwiBuild eligibility at $120,000 for a … Read more
Is it a real estate ad if you see more of the Dancing with the Stars judges than you see of the house? Our DWTSNZ power-ranker Sam Brooks investigates. I remember the old days, when people used to look at pictures of houses in the newspaper and then go along to open homes and hope the house … Read more
Mould is one of the biggest health risks associated with New Zealand’s substandard housing stock. But since landlords seem averse to doing anything about the problem, Madeleine Chapman came up with an easy workaround. This story was published in June 2018. Earlier this week, nine students reached a confidential settlement agreement with their landlord following … Read more
While the meth testing scheme has been proven to be a rort, the dangers of lead contamination in homes is still very real. Environmental scientist Tim Muller explains. In case you missed it, the prime minister’s chief science advisor (PMCSA) recently released a damning report into the meth testing and remediation industry. The gist is … Read more
When Bethenny Frankel first bought Amazon shares, the company was nothing. But her gut said it was going to be big, so she bought in. That’s just one of her many, many business successes. On a recent visit to Auckland, Rebecca Stevenson tapped the Real Housewives of New York star for her top financial tips. … Read more
No capital gains tax no problem? Not exactly – Tax Heroes has uncovered our biggest property players pay a much lower tax rate, Maria Slade reports. Whether New Zealand should introduce a capital gains tax is set to be almost as hot a topic in Labour’s first term as the prime minister’s pregnancy. While debate … Read more
Tax Heroes: We always hear about who is not paying tax, but who pays the most hasn’t been measured – until now. Maria Slade talks to the two Auckland professors behind the numbers of Tax Heroes. In the days of former prime minister Rob Muldoon you couldn’t get a first class flight out of the … Read more
He’s young, he’s relentless, and he claims to care more about the beauty of his creations than the money they make him. Matt Stark is a new generation of property developer, and he’s hopelessly devoted to The Tron. Behind Hamilton’s back doors runs a river, and property developer Matt Stark surveys its twirling eddies with … Read more
Throw the man a dolphin and buy his $1.9m Point Chevalier house. When we think of ‘public service journalism’ we usually think of holding the government to account and filing lots of OIAs. But public service comes in many forms, and one of the greatest public service television programmes of the 21st century is the … Read more
Sell up and move to Tauranga for a better, more affordable lifestyle? Keri Welham finds Tauranga is still desirable, but housing and wages mean it may now be out of reach. The mass migration has ended. Gone are the convoys of removal vans thundering down the Southern Motorway, and the scenes of Aucklander vs Aucklander … Read more
Having analysed the spate of uplifting stories about millennial strugglers buying homes, Don Rowe reveals how you, too, can lift your foot above your head and on to the lowest rung of the property ladder. It’s not impossible, it just takes a few little tricks – like not paying rent. First published on 16 March … Read more
The new coalition government has made a start on addressing the housing crisis with the just-announced independent housing review. But Jenny McArthur warns that Labour’s proposed KiwiBuild policy could risk adopting solutions that actually fuel the problems they claim to solve, reinforcing inequality for decades to come. After years of futile policy interventions, it’s time … 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
When future-historians look back at life in New Zealand in the early part of this century, there’s one pop cultural artifact that, in three-and-a-half minutes summed up the aspirations of a changing nation: Gold Medal Famous’ masterpiece ‘We Bought A House’. We’ve been waiting for it for years – a cultural work which encapsulates our … Read more