With property prices falling in many parts of New Zealand, you may need to work smarter if you want to sell your home for a premium price. Here are five tips to maximise your selling price in a cooling market: 1. Choose a good real estate agent During the recent boom, even mediocre real estate…
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With Silicon Valley Bank collapsing in America and Credit Suisse coming close in Switzerland, you might be wondering about the resilience of New Zealand banks. The good news is that all of the main banks are currently operating above the minimum regulatory requirements, according to the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ). “We are aware…
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You might have heard that property prices double every 10 years. But is it true? Well, data from realestate.co.nz found that more than half of New Zealand’s 76 districts experienced a doubling in their average asking price over the decade to 2022. The biggest increases occurred in: Kawerau = up 293.9% to $494,172. Horowhenua =…
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The government has introduced the Severe Weather Emergency Legislation Bill to minimise the red tape involved in the recovery and rebuild from Cyclone Gabrielle. This bill is designed to remove or modify existing legislative constraints to support recovery, just like similar legislation that was passed after the Christchurch and Kaikōura earthquakes. Minister for Emergency Management…
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For only the third time in the country’s history, a National State of Emergency was recently declared, to help in the response to Cyclone Gabrielle. The declaration applies to Northland, Auckland, Tairāwhiti, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and Hawke’s Bay CDEM Group areas, and the Tararua District. “A National State of Emergency gives the National Controller…
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The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) raised the official cash rate (OCR) from 4.25% to 4.75% earlier this month, and implied that at least one more rate rise is coming. In a statement explaining the decision, the Monetary Policy Committee of the RBNZ gave two main reasons for the rate rise. Inflation is too…
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National property prices declined further in January, meaning prices have contracted more than 8% since peaking in March last year, according to CoreLogic. CoreLogic chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said that after 10 consecutive months of price falls, a case could be made that we’re close to the bottom. But it could also be argued…
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There’s been an increase in the number of new homes approved for construction, according to the latest data from Stats NZ. There were 49,538 new homes consented in the year ended December 2022, which was 1.1% higher than the year before. That number was also very high by historical standards, although below the peak of…
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Home building costs increased by a record 10.4% during the 12 months to December, according to CoreLogic’s Cordell Construction Cost Index. That beats the record set the previous quarter, when residential construction costs rose 9.6% in the year to September 2022. Thankfully, prices are increasing at a decreasing rate – they jumped 3.4% in the…
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The property market is looking a lot more encouraging for first home buyers today than it did this time last year. That’s because prices fell sharply during 2022, reducing the size of the deposit first home buyers need to enter the market. Between January and November 2022, the price of the average property fell 10.2%,…
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