By now, the majority of main banks have moved to increase mortgage rates in light of the official cash rate rise. Further interest rate hikes expected by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand this year. With some economists predicting floating mortgage rates will be up to, or just under, 7% by Christmas. What we can […]
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While new listings showed an increase from January levels, the number of new listings in February (12,167) was below predicted levels, with 7% lesser properties than February last year. Inventory levels of houses for sale fell in February. The number of available homes for sale on the market easing to 26 weeks of stock. This […]
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The national median price rose $33,000 to $415,000 (8.6%) compared to February 2013, areas across the country that saw increases were Waikato/Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay and Canterbury/Westland all reaching a new high medium price. Sales volumes were down in February by 7.6% when compared to February last year, but up by 29.8% on January […]
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With the OCR rate increase, it pays to remember two vitally important things as you contemplate whether to switch to a fixed rate and when to do it. First, every policy tightening period is a suck-it-and-see exercise. You never know for certain how borrowers, savers, businesses, and the exchange rate will react to rising interest […]
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NZ looks to be in very good shape compared with other economies where uncertainty persists about the true underlying strength of the recovery in the United States, Japan, Europe, and to a lesser extent the UK. Confusion also exists regarding the immediate pace of growth in China’s economy with some data coming in weaker than […]
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Official Cash Rate Rises The Reserve Bank has increased the official cash rate to 2.75%. It is the first time in three years that the OCR has been changed. In 2011 it was dropped to a record low of 2.5% in response to the Canterbury Earthquakes. In a statement, Governor of The Reserve Bank Graeme […]
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A loan-to-value ratio (LVR) is a measure of how much a bank lends against residential property, compared to the value of that property. Borrowers with LVRs of more than 80 percent (less than 20 percent deposit) are often stretching their financial resources. They are more vulnerable to an economic or financial shock, such as a […]
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The New Year has started with a healthy flow of new listings, which may help rising property demands. Realestate.co.nz report that 9,267 new properties came onto the market, up 5% from last year. This increase was across most of the country, excluding Hawkes Bay, Marlborough and Southland. Of the 13 regions that reported […]
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The New Zealand economy remains firmly in an expansion mode. Despite recent falls in equity values and concerns over China and emerging market economies, New Zealand’s economic situation remains positive. Employment is showing strong signs of improvement for 2014 as the economic confidence improves and has already shown a 1.1% improvement.
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A recent survey revealed that two thirds of New Zealanders believe a warrant of fitness system for private rental properties should be in place. Central and local governments have been working on a system to appraise tenanted homes. This is a scheme being tested by councils in five cities, including Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch this […]
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