WITH commercial clearance rates as much as 34 per cent lower in August than at the same time last year, and the average sale price down 5 per cent in the same period, the New Zealand property market is under significant pressure. read more
From the category archives:
New Zealand
New body for real estate agents
Real estate agents are no longer required to be members of the Real Estate Institute but will be subject to the scrutiny of independent bodies.
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“Bank Economists At Sea On Housing”
Following a recent article in New Zealand’s South Island leading daily newspaper The Press “Leaky homes and the housing bubble“, the writer responded to comments by the New Zealand ANZ National Bank Chief Economist, Mr Cameron Bagrie with an article “ Understanding Housing Bubbles “.
Where are we in the housing cycle?
Earlier this month, the Real Estate Institute trumpeted that their latest data showed “an unmistakeable degree of recovery” and speculated that “if this is as bad as it gets, then perhaps the market is in better shape than we thought”. …read more
Problem US numbers again with persistent downwards revisions - new home sales
Sales of new homes rise, but miss forecasts - Aug. 26, 2008 – CNN Money
Also – the Data Quick / California Association of Realtors persistent median house price differences.
I note too - the Houston Association of Realtors is getting in to the “revision game” – adjusting previous months median house prices – in its latest Report
Mortgagee sales spark feeding frenzy
Home investors and buyers are in a frenzy over an estimated five-fold increase in mortgagee sales in the last year, but bargain hunters are set to be disappointed. more
Students fed up with ’slum-like’ hostels
Students from Wellington’s Victoria University are protesting about hostel owners, an Australian property trust ING Real Estate Australia, saying they are fed up with their “slum-like” living conditions. more
New Zealand Government Inaction Collapsing House Building Industry
The June 2008 Building Consents Issued Release by Statistics New Zealand state that in June 2007 there were 2574 new residential building consents issued, which had slumped to 1362 consents in June 2008 – some 1212 less than the same month last year.
NZ home-building approvals hit 22-year low
New Zealand home-building approvals slumped to the lowest in almost 22 years in June, adding to signs rising credit costs and falling consumer confidence have pushed the economy into recession.
Approvals fell 20% from May to 1337, the lowest since October 1986, Statistics New Zealand said in Wellington, citing seasonally adjusted figures. Excluding apartments, approvals dropped 13% from May.
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New Zealand Housing: Time To Start Dealing With Real Structural Issues
New Zealand’s “phony boom” or urban property bubble that got underway around May 2001, caused by artificial land supply scarcities and inappropriate infrastructure financing - is now over.
REINZ data illustrates that in the month of May 2001 - national median house prices were $NZ170,000 with monthly real estate agency sales of 6459 and transaction volume of $NZ1.3 billion.
The bubble ballooned out in March through May 2007 - when median house prices inflated to $NZ350, 000, generating grossly excessive monthly transactions of 10,989 and a transaction volume of $NZ4.534 billion.
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