Category: General

Six tips for buying furniture that’ll be perfect in your new home

Buying your first home is a truly memorable and exciting experience – but it’s when you go shopping for furniture that you start to enjoy retail therapy. But beware! There’s a skill to buying furniture for your first home. Don’t simply rock up to Ikea, or another furniture store, and begin picking out your favourite…
Read more

No sign of rents slowing at lower end of the market

As rising property values across Australia stabilise – for the moment at least – investors have a great opportunity to expand their portfolios before interest rate cuts finally arrive and buyers return in force. While values may currently be favourable, investors should be aware that the stellar growth in rental income since the pandemic is…
Read more

Here’s how you can minimise your housework

With so many people juggling priorities and trying to make ends meet, is it time to consider evaluating the value of your time against the cost and of hiring a cleaner for your home? New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics says that almost 1 million of us – 974,000 – report having second…
Read more

Values predicted to rise even if Fed is slow to move

The affordability of housing will be front and center in America’s political conversation this year, as everyone from the President down seeks cheaper interest rates to take pressure off values and rents. The nation’s ability to deliver affordable housing – a common challenge among many western economies – will affect millions of households.  The market…
Read more

Home values rose average $38,000 in 2024, says research

Everyone seeking to enter the Australian property market in 2025 will be paying closer attention than ever to the fortunes of local real estate. A mixture of economic uncertainty, low unemployment and labour shortages, together with anticipated interest rate cuts and a federal election, will all have an influence on the 2025 market. We ended…
Read more

Real estate enters political fray with President’s executive order

The political imperative to fix America’s housing shortage – record-high rents, burgeoning interest rates and high home prices – gained the immediate attention of the new President.  On the day he took office, President Trump signed an executive order telling all heads of executive departments and agencies “to deliver emergency price relief, consistent with applicable…
Read more

10 tips for hosting a romantic Valentine’s dinner

If there’s “Someone Special” in your life, then it’s pretty certain you’re already starting to think about how you can make Valentine’s Day truly magical. Flowers – preferably roses, coloured red – and a lovely card have become prerequisites for the love-struck guy.  But it doesn’t have to be the man who has to make…
Read more

2025 shaping as a perfect moment for first-time buyers

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen so much optimism in the real estate market, and 2025 looks set to be a year of opportunity for upgraders, first-time buyers and investors. The 2025 market looks promising for a variety of buyers and sellers. While the Fed decided to keep the rate at 4.25% recently,…
Read more

Market dynamics favour more deals in 2025

The Kiwi property market enters 2025 in an environment of falling interest rates, new lending rules, economic challenges and an increasing number of properties coming onto the market. It’s a lot to take in. After a tough couple of years for upsizers and aspiring first homebuyers, our real estate scene is finally loosening up thanks…
Read more

Cooling rents still offer good news for investors

The large rent hikes Canada has experienced since the pandemic are finally coming off the boil. Rents are not falling but the rate of growth is tapering down, slowing to 5.4% from a historic peak of 8% in mid-2023. That means investors have not only enjoyed record levels of rental income but will continue to…
Read more