By Leith van Onselen Data released by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) revealed that property investor lending has cooled materially since the RBNZ implemented new loan-to-value ratio (LVR) restrictions targeting investors, which officially came into effect on 1 October 2016, although banks began informally applying the rules since they were first announced in
By Leith van Onselen Statistics New Zealand has released its permanent & long-term migration figures for May 2017, which revealed that annual net permanent and long-term migration into New Zealand hit a record high 71,964 people over the year: According to Statistics New Zealand, migrant arrivals numbered 130,400 in the May 2017 year, versus departures
By Leith van Onselen After months of promising to slash New Zealand’s immigration intake by the “tens-of-thousands”, the opposition Labour Party appears to have backslid somewhat, promising to leave the excessively high permanent migrant intake untouched. From Interest.co.nz: Labour leader Andrew Little says he is confident the party’s new regional visa policy will ensure migrants
By Leith van Onselen In the wake of yesterday’s news that New Zealand’s economy has entered a ‘technical recession’ in per capita terms, the OECD’s chief economist, Catherine L. Mann, gave a bizarre presentation arguing that while New Zealand’s record immigration program has lowered per capita GDP in the short-run, it would be great for
By Leith van Onselen Statistics New Zealand has today released national accounts figures for the March quarter of 2017, with Gross domestic product (GDP) rising by 0.5% over the quarter to be up 3.0% year-on-year. However, GDP per capita fell by 0.1% in the March quarter, which follows the 0.2% fall in the December quarter.
By Leith van Onselen The REINZ has released its house price data for May, which revealed a 0.1% seasonally adjusted monthly rise in the national median house price, with prices up 6.2% year-on-year: Outside Auckland, house prices rose by 0.5% in May, with prices up 11.5% year-on-year. Looking at the major cities, Auckland’s seasonally adjusted
By Leith van Onselen Almost every day, concerns about New Zealand’s record immigration program are vented in the media, posing big problems for the incumbent National Government as the nation heads to the polls on 23 September. Sensing the growing backlash, the opposition Labour Party has vowed to cut immigration into New Zealand by 20,000
By Leith van Onselen The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) yesterday launched consultation to have debt-to-income (DTI) limits added to its macro-prudential toolkit. According to the RBNZ: The Bank is seeking feedback from stakeholders on: the risks posed by high DTI lending and the potential for a DTI limit or similar policy to ameliorate
By Leith van Onselen Several strings of data suggests that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s (RBNZ) loan-to-value ratio (LVR) restrictions targeting investors, which were announced in July 2016, are beginning to have the desired effect of cooling Auckland’s runaway housing market. As noted last week, the value of investor mortgages taken out across Auckland
By Leith van Onselen New Zealand’s National Government remains under siege for failing to solve Auckland’s housing crisis by promising to boost supply. Yesterday in Parliament, Labour housing spokesman, Phil Twyford, attacked the Government’s credibility, leading to Minister for Social Housing, Amy Adams, effectively blaming private developers. From Interest.co.nz: Amy Adams has defended levels of
By Leith van Onselen The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has released its bi-annual Financial Stability Report (FSR), which once again dissects the nation’s (read Auckland’s) housing bubble and warns on risks to financial stability and the macro economy. Below are the key extracts pertaining to the housing market: House price growth has slowed
By Leith van Onselen The New Zealand National Government’s single-minded focus on solving Auckland’s housing crisis by boosting supply continues to take a hammering. Today, Statistics New Zealand released figures showing that construction momentum has slowed across Auckland, with just 726 dwelling consents issued in April and 10,226 issued over the year: As noted by
By Leith van Onselen Data released by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) revealed that property investor lending has cooled materially since the RBNZ implemented new loan-to-value ratio (LVR) restrictions targeting investors, which officially came into effect on 1 October 2016, although banks began informally applying the rules since they were first announced in
By Leith van Onselen The New Zealand Budget, released yesterday, forecasts further house price growth on the back of ongoing strong immigration. Specifically, house prices are projected to grow by: 5.1% in the year to June 2017; 7.8% in 2018; 3.9% in 2019; 3.1% in 2020; and 2.2% in 2021. Below are some key extracts:
By Leith van Onselen Only via New Zealand do Australia’s banks ever tell the truth. Today, ANZ chief economist, Cameron Bagrie, called for an end to “unproductive” borrowing by New Zealand households. From Interest.co.nz: In the ANZ’s latest Property Focus publication, Bagrie says New Zealand has a considerable pipeline of investment needs, which largely reflects
By Leith van Onselen New Zealand Prime Minister, Bill English, has ruled-out changing the country’s immigration settings to bring in more construction workers to help alleviate Auckland’s chronic housing shortage. From Interest.co.nz: The government has not seen any reason to loosen migration settings to allow for more house building in Auckland, despite the construction industry
By Leith van Onselen Statistics New Zealand has released its permanent & long-term migration figures for April 2017, which revealed that annual net permanent and long-term migration into New Zealand remained near an all-time high at 71,885 people: According to Statistics New Zealand, migrant arrivals numbered 129,800 in the April 2017 year, versus departures of
By Leith van Onselen Statistics NZ has released new projections that New Zealand’s population will rise by 1 million people (+21%) over the next 20-years on the back of strong immigration from Asian nations: New Zealand’s population is projected to increase by about 1 million in the next 20 years, with all major ethnic groups
By Leith van Onselen Four months out from the General Election, and with concerns over Auckland’s housing crisis growing, New Zealand’s National Government has launched a state-sponsored house building plan on crown land that is to deliver 26,000 extra homes to the Auckland region over the next decade. From Interest.co.nz: The net addition to Auckland’s
By Leith van Onselen The policy debate is hotting up in New Zealand in the lead-up to the 23 September general election, with Labour leader, Andrew Little, pledging that Labour would end negative gearing if it is elected. From Stuff.co.nz: In a hard hitting speech to Labour’s election year congress, leader Andrew Little said the
By Leith van Onselen The Property Council of New Zealand (PCNZ) has published a new report crowing that property is now New Zealand’s largest non-export industry. From Stuff NZ: Property is now New Zealand’s largest non-export industry, a $83 billion dollar business. A report commissioned by the Property Council found that property directly contributed $29.8b
By Leith van Onselen The Monetary Policy Statement accompanying today’s official cash rate (OCR) decision by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ), which saw the OCR remain at 1.75%, forecast a heavy slowing of house price growth on the back of recent macro-prudential curbs and forecast slowing population growth: Despite ongoing strength in the
By Leith van Onselen As widely expected, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has held the official cash rate (OCR) at 1.75%. The release accompanying the decision was similar to the previous statement in that RBNZ governor Graeme Wheeler noted the OCR is likely to remain accommodative for an extended period: The Reserve Bank
By Leith van Onselen Last month, The ABC posted a ripping article on the high degree of investment property ownership by Australia’s federal politicians, which is likely acting as a strong disincentive to them making fundamental reform to fix Australia’s housing woes: The 226 individuals own 524 properties between them and about half of them
By Leith van Onselen Despite promising for years to reform New Zealand’s planning system to boost housing supply and make housing more affordable, it is clear that the National Government is failing. The latest dwelling consents data revealed that Auckland consented just 10,199 homes in the year to March 2017 – well below the 15,000
