Post the 1950’s, the world has lived in relatively peaceful times. Yes there have been terrorist attacks. The Korean, Vietnam and Gulf wars. But it’s nothing that has threatened the overall safety of the world’s population. In fact, despite everything, we’ve always felt the human race has everything under control. But our complacency has left us vulnerable. And this black swan event, in the...
I suspect most people reading this blog have some interest in real estate and therefore are aware that the market is booming. Since emerging from lockdown in late April the Wellington market has moved around 13%. Why? Well, it’s been a perfect storm of low interest rates, loosening of LVR restrictions, rents holding (and actually increasing) and population growth. In March, when life as we knew it...
Buying a property in 2020 is a very different kettle of fish to buying a home even ten short years ago. Gone is that classic Kiwi ‘she’ll be right’ approach to real estate. Today’s buyers are knowledgeable and well researched. They can access a wide range of information and services quickly which means they know everything about your property before offering. So, as a seller, you need to as...
For anyone who has battled addiction and won, you will know it is best tackled one day at a time. A time frame longer than that is often too hard to fathom or comprehend. So, what do the current property market and recovering from addiction have to do with each other? There is little point trying to predict what the property market might look like in the short to medium term. If we’ve learnt anything...
I think we can all be forgiven for acting as if life has returned to a pre-Covid state. Wishful thinking. You only need to switch on the news to be reminded that the pandemic is, in fact, still raging across the world. So here we are in our beautiful country making the most of our backyard. But are we fooling ourselves, just as those in Melbourne were a short time ago. Will the virus permeate our shores...
Selling your house can be a nervous time. Especially for a first-time vendor. What if I choose the wrong agent? What happens if no one offers at the tender? Is a tender even the right method to sell my house? How much commission should I pay? The stakes are huge and getting it wrong can be an incredibly costly exercise. At a presentation the other day a potential vendor asked about my negotiating...
Given everything that’s going on at the moment, you could be forgiven for missing that New Zealand’s population just topped the five million mark. The milestone snuck up on us so fast, in just seventeen years in fact. We almost forgot to pause and think just what will be the impacts of the rapidly increasing membership of ‘club Aotearoa’. Of particular interest for us, of course, is the...
Over the last month we’ve been busy catching up with buyers to see if they still intend to purchase a home. And the overwhelming answer? Yes! So, why is it that some buyers are confident in property and what are the upsides of buying in this market? Off the pace It’s nearly impossible to pick the bottom of a market. The only way you will really know is when you hear reports that prices...
WOW. What a whirlwind of change. Barely three months ago the world was ticking along nicely, the Auckland market was back and booming and stocks were hitting record prices. We had winter getaways booked and Trump was licking his lips with the prospect of re-election. Our new reality? Forget you ever had a plan. And don’t even think about making one. Because there is no timeframe for our ‘new...
The big change this year has been the number of parents looking to buy property for their children. There are two motives driving this change: providing accommodation in a tight rental market and securing a foothold in the investment market. The difficulty for any buyer at the moment is stock levels with only 552 properties available for sale at the time of writing. This month we ask why is it that so...