By Leith van Onselen Yesterday we reported how escalating home prices against sluggish wages growth has driven the deposit gap facing Sydney first home buyers (FHBs) to record highs. The situation is equally bad across the pond, with surging home prices in Auckland driving the deposit gap to nearly 8 years for a typical couple
By Leith van Onselen Property investors continue to pull back from Auckland, with the latest data from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) showing that Auckland investors cut their share of mortgages to 41% in August – down from the 48% peak share recorded in June 2016: The slowing in investor mortgage demand follows
By Leith van Onselen Statistics New Zealand has released its permanent & long-term migration figures for August 2016, which revealed that net permanent and long-term migration into New Zealand continues to boom, hitting a record-equalling annual net gain of 69,100 migrants: The larger gain in migrants in the August 2016 year compared with the August 2015 year was driven primarily by more
By Leith van Onselen NZ Labour continues to apply pressure to the Government over housing affordability. Labour leader Andrew Little recently delivered a rousing speech on housing policy, which shamed the National Government’s inaction and provided a comprehensive road map of its own, encompassing both demand-side and supply-side measures. New Zealand’s shadow minister for housing,
By Leith van Onselen Statistics New Zealand yesterday released national accounts figures for the June quarter of 2016, with Gross domestic product (GDP) rising by 0.9% over the quarter to be up 3.6% year-on-year. The result followed a 0.9% rise in both the December 2015 and March 2016 quarters: The June quarter increase in GDP
By Leith van Onselen The REINZ has released its house price data for August, which revealed that the median house price nationally fell by 3.0% to $492,000 from the record high $505,000 recorded in July, with the annual growth clocking in at 5.8%: However, Auckland house prices rose another 2.0% in August to a record
By Leith van Onselen New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, remains the biggest roadblock to the country achieving genuine housing reform. A year ago, Key cheered on rising house prices and the associated Chinese investment – effectively selling younger generations out whilst promoting unproductive investment: “Aucklanders are getting wealthier,” Key said, referring to front page
By Leith van Onselen Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) released its monthly credit aggregates data, which showed that household borrowing had hit an annual growth rate of 8.6% in July – the highest level since May 2008 just prior to the onset of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC): Now, the
By Leith van Onselen I wrote yesterday how New Zealand’s record-breaking immigration-fueled population growth has become a hot political issue following recent concerns raised by the New Zealand Treasury, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ), former RBNZ special adviser, Mike Reddell, as well as two of the major banks (here and here). Yesterday, Labour’s opposition
By Leith van Onselen Following the strongest immigration-fueled population growth in the nation’s history (see next chart), the efficacy of New Zealand’s immigration system has become a hot political issue. Back in June, the New Zealand Treasury released a bunch of briefing papers warning that an increasing share of New Zealand’s record intake of non-New
From the RBNZ: Where’s APRA on Sydney and Melbourne?
By Leith van Onselen ANZ’s chief economist in New Zealand, Cameron Bagrie, has questioned whether New Zealand’s high immigration policy has the “right mix” and is delivering better standards of living for the existing population. From Interest.co.nz: Bagrie said GDP per capita growth was “lacklustre”. In the March quarter, annual per capita real GDP growth
By Leith van Onselen The RBNZ released its monthly credit aggregates data, which showed that household borrowing hit an annual growth rate of 8.6% in July – the highest level since May 2008 just prior to the onset of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC): Most of this growth in debt was driven by mortgages, which
By Leith van Onselen In recent years, New Zealand has experienced an immigration-driven population boom that is unprecedented in the nation’s history (see below charts). One of the casualties of this influx has been housing affordability. Despite boosting housing construction recently, New Zealand is simply unable to build enough homes to keep up with demand,
By Leith van Onselen Over the past few years, this site has been showing the exodus of Kiwis back home from Australia, which has hit levels not seen since the 1980s and 1990s recessions: To date, we have put this exodus down to the weakening of Australia’s labour market – particularly the availability of full-time
By Leith van Onselen New Zealand’s policy makers continue to put Australia’s to shame. While the second tranche of anti-money laundering (AML) regulations capturing real estate agents, accountants, lawyers, and other non-financial businesses have remained in limbo in Australia since we first agreed to implement them in 2003, and have since been delayed indefinitely by
By Leith van Onselen Ratings agency Standard & Poors (S&P) has today raised its capital risk weightings for NZ banks due to the risk of a ‘sharp correction’ in house prices. From Interest.co.nz: S&P has downgraded its Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA) for NZ’s banks by a notch, dropping it from 3 to 4,
By Leith van Onselen During the Australian Federal Election campaign, the Turnbull Government and real estate lobby ran a scare campaign against Labor’s proposed changes to negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount, warning that it would “smash” property values and endanger Australian’s biggest asset. Former Prime Minister John Howard once said that no
By Leith van Onselen Statistics New Zealand on Friday released its permanent & long-term migration figures for July 2016, which revealed that net permanent and long-term migration into New Zealand continues to boom, although it may have now peaked: Unadjusted figures showed a net gain of 69,000 migrants in the July 2016 year. This stopped
By Leith van Onselen Amid the rigorous debate taking place in New Zealand over the efficacy of its world-beating immigration program, FT Alphaville’s Matthew C Klein has produced a ripper report on New Zealand immigration, which shows that the current rate of immigration is the highest in the nation’s history: With net immigration explaining around
By Leith van Onselen Just like their Aussie bank parents, New Zealand’s largest lenders have held onto the lion’s share of today’s 0.25% cut to the official cash rate (OCR), while simultaneously pushing-up deposit rates. From Interest.co.nz: ANZ announced today it will lower floating home loan rates by 0.05% p.a. to 5.59% p.a. but will
by Chris Becker As I mentioned yesterday, New Zealand remains the only major Western economy with interest rates above that of Australia, but has just cut them to the “bone” to 2% even. The Kiwi raced ahead to over 73 cents against the USD, almost making a new high for the year: Meanwhile the Aussie/Kiwi
By Leith van Onselen New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, was hammered yesterday in parliament on housing affordability. First, the Labour opposition had a dig: ANDREW LITTLE (Leader—Labour) to the Prime Minister: Does he stand by his statement that he doesn’t accept the average Auckland house, costing $992,000, is out of reach for most families?
By Leith van Onselen The REINZ has released its house price data for July, which revealed that the median house price nationally rose by 1.0% to $505,000 from $500,000 in June, with the annual growth clocking in at a still strong 8.6%: However, Auckland house prices rose another 0.5% in July to a record $825,000,
By Leith van Onselen Excessive immigration is becoming a hot political issue in New Zealand with a conga-line of experts now questioning whether running such a high immigration program is actually beneficial for living standards. Back in June, the New Zealand Treasury released a bunch of briefing papers warning that an increasing share of New
