By Leith van Onselen Apparently Auckland’s housing market is no longer in “crisis”, according to the National opposition’s housing spokesman, Michael Woodhouse: National’s housing spokesman Michael Woodhouse says flatlining property prices in Auckland prove there is no housing crisis. Sale prices in Auckland have stagnated in the last few months, after years of double-digit growth…
By Leith van Onselen Data released by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) yesterday revealed that property investor lending has continued to cool after 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
By Leith van Onselen I noted in the lead-up to the New Zealand General Election, held on 23 September, that Labour had an excellent housing platform that addresses both supply and demand distortions via negative gearing reform, banning foreign buyers of existing homes, tighter capital gains taxes, removal of urban growth boundaries, plus bond financing
By Leith van Onselen Last month, Statistics New Zealand released its Household Living Costs Price Indexes, which revealed that low-income households’ costs have been growing at a much faster rate than high-income households: Today, Statistics New Zealand has released annual national accounts data, which shows that Kiwi households continue to outspend their incomes: Household net
By Leith van Onselen Six years ago, I penned an article entitled Why developers land bank, which attempted to explain the drivers and motivations for land banking. Included in this article was the argument that land banking is more common in markets with regulatory barriers to land supply, such as urban growth boundaries (UGB), because
By Leith van Onselen Statistics New Zealand released its permanent & long-term migration figures for October 2017, which revealed that immigration into New Zealand has continued to drift back from record high levels, with 70,694 annual net permanent and long-term arrivals landing in New Zealand in the year to October, down from a peak of
By Leith van Onselen The New Zealand Labour-led Government’s promise to rein-in the country’s housing market via a combination of demand and supply-side reforms is already bearing fruit, with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s (RBNZ) Household Inflation expectations survey reporting a significant slowing in house price expectations over the next year (see right columns
By Leith van Onselen The REINZ has released its house price data for October, which revealed a 1.2% seasonally adjusted monthly rise in the national median house price, with prices up 3.3% year-on-year: Outside Auckland, seasonally adjusted house prices rose by 0.9% in October, with prices up 8.5% year-on-year. Looking at the major cities, Auckland’s
By Leith van Onselen The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has released its latest Monetary Policy Statement, whereby it has left the cash rate unchanged at 1.75% and noted that the housing market has moderated. It also indicates that rates will be on hold for the foreseeable future Below is the Statement by RBNZ
By Leith van Onselen I noted in the lead-up to the New Zealand General Election, held on 23 September, that Labour had an excellent housing platform that addresses both supply and demand distortions via negative gearing reform, banning foreign buyers of existing homes, tighter capital gains taxes, removal of urban growth boundaries, plus bond financing
By Leith van Onselen A few weeks back, Statistics New Zealand released its Household Living Costs Price Indexes, which revealed that low-income households’ costs are growing at a much faster rate than high-income households, due in part to rising housing rents. Today, Interest.co.nz reports that rents across New Zealand are rising at more than twice
By Leith van Onselen I noted in the lead-up to the New Zealand General Election, held on 23 September, that Labour had an excellent housing platform that addresses both supply and demand distortions via negative gearing reform, banning foreign buyers of existing homes, tighter capital gains taxes, removal of urban growth boundaries, plus bond financing
By Leith van Onselen Statistics New Zealand has this morning released its labour force data for the September quarter, with the unemployment rate falling to 4.6% from 4.8%. The key changes are outlined in the below table: As shown above, employment rose by by 2.2% in the September quarter to be up 4.2% over the
By Leith van Onselen New Zealand’s newly appointed Labour-led coalition Government has moved to implement the first tranche of its demand-side housing reforms, undertaking to amend the Overseas Investment Act in a manner that won’t impact the nation’s in-force free trade agreements (FTAs). From Interest.co.nz: The Labour-led government says it has found a way to
By Leith van Onselen Auckland’s chronic housing shortage continues to worsen, according to new data released this morning by Statistics New Zealand, which shows that dwelling consents continue to fall well short of immigration-fueled population growth. There were 868 dwelling consents issued across Auckland in September and only 10,317 consents issued over the year (trend
By Leith van Onselen Statistics New Zealand has today released its Household Living Costs Price Indexes, which reveals that low-income households’ costs are growing at a much faster rate than high-income households: Living costs for low-spending households increased 2.6 percent in the year to September 2017, Stats NZ said today. This was 1.1 percent more than for high-spending households
By Leith van Onselen We supported the New Zealand Labour Party in the lead-up to last month’s election because of its excellent housing platform, which promised to address both demand and supply-side distortions via negative gearing reform, banning foreign buyers of existing homes, tighter capital gains taxes, removal of urban growth boundaries, plus bond financing
By Leith van Onselen Data released by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) yesterday revealed that property investor lending has continued to cool after 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
Cross-posted from Croaking Cassandra. It was confirmed yesterday that the new government’s immigration policy will be the policy the Labour Party campaigned on (albeit very quietly). And so we learned that the new government will remain a fully signed-up adherent of the same flawed, increasingly misguided, “big New Zealand” approach that has guided immigration policy
How easy was that? Overseas buyers will no longer be allowed to purchase existing homes in New Zealand, Prime Minister-elect Jacinda Ardern has announced, as she unveiled a raft of policy deals made with her coalition partners. The move to tackle soaring property prices was agreed during lengthy negotiations between the Labour Party leader and
By Leith van Onselen Statistics New Zealand has released sub-national population estimates, which reveals that Auckland’s population continues to grow manically, increasing by 42,700 (2.65%) to 1.66 million in the year to June, 28,900 (1.79%) coming form net overseas migration: The data is yet another cruel blow to aspiring home buyers and renters in Auckland,
By Leith van Onselen CoreLogic has released its New Zealand housing market update for September-October, which revealed that the average dwelling value in New Zealand hit an all-time high $641,648 in August, although the annual growth rate had fallen to 4.8% – the lowest level in five years: CoreLogic also revealed that Auckland’s average dwelling
By Leith van Onselen Statistics New Zealand released its permanent & long-term migration figures for September 2017, which revealed that immigration into New Zealand has begun to drift back from record high levels, with 70,986 annual net permanent and long-term arrivals landing in New Zealand in the year to September, down from a peak of 72,402
Via ANZ: Following the formation of the coalition government in New Zealand, AUD/NZD has made a definitive break higher and will form a range around fair value (1.1250) A sustained move higher from there will be contingent on factors on both sides of the Tasman: relative business confidence, migration and the stance of the two
By Leith van Onselen Just shy of a month ago, on 23 September, the New Zealand General Election was held. A deadlock ensued whereby none of the major parties secured the 61 seats necessary to form Government, with the incumbent National Party securing 56 seats, the Labour/Green alliance securing 54 seats, and New Zealand First
By Leith van Onselen From Statistics New Zealand comes a new report showing how housing costs have outstripped income rises over the past decade, despite falling interest rates: Since 2007, average annual household income is up nearly $30,000 (42.0 percent), to reach $98,621 (before tax) in 2017. Over the same 10 years, average annual housing
Work for Merrill Lynch. Become PM. Do nothing about house prices. Ramp immigration. Sell your mansion to a Chinese investor. Then join the bank: ANZ has appointed former New Zealand Prime Minister John Key as chairman of ANZ New Zealand. He will succeed John Judge as chairman as he retires from the board of directors in January,
By Leith van Onselen The most recent REINZ housing statistics revealed a sharp decline in Auckland transaction volumes, which were down circa 30% in the year to August – the lowest level of August sales in six years: With Auckland’s sales tracking at their lowest level in at least five years in 12-month moving average
By Leith van Onselen The REINZ has released its house price data for September, which revealed a 1.3% seasonally adjusted monthly fall in the national median house price, with prices up just 0.6% year-on-year: Outside Auckland, seasonally adjusted house prices fell by 0.9% in September, with prices up 5.4% year-on-year. Looking at the major cities,
By Leith van Onselen I have written many times how New Zealand’s National Government has failed dismally in tackling Auckland’s housing crisis, despite promising to do so over its nine year reign. Yesterday, we received more evidence of the National Government’s failure, with its Auckland Housing Accord – designed to deliver tens-of-thousands of ‘affordable’ homes
