[bob_the_engineer]

Well I’ve had a close eye on ht housing market for quite some time, and I think I’m seeing a shift.

The housing market here isn’t like the one in the UK, it strikes me that a lot of what you could call Public Housing is owned by private investors. What seems to happen is people buy houses as an investment, they rent them out quite cheaply (often certainly not enough to cover the cost of buying it) and claim a tax allowance on their loss.
The houses, when eventually sold, provide a capital gain, that is a tax free profit to the owner of the house.

I think this is a very clever way of providing cheap housing, its almost as though the government has a huge co-operative with private investors acting as state housing providers in return for tax breaks. It all seems to work very well.
Its probably much more cost efficient than public housing run by the state in places like the UK.

Anyway, because of this I never expected to see a fall in house prices, I thought the investors would just keep taking the tax breaks and sell only when the price was good enough. On the other hand I guess a tax break doesn’t return your entire loss, and the remaining loss has to be made up when you sell. I guess the interest rate increases are going to ramp up losses for anyone who has financed an investment property.

Well I’m seeing a decrease in the price of a house, I didn’t expect it (despite the hype).

Anyone got any thoughts on this? Do you think the price of a house is actually coming down, or am I just imagining this?

Bob

[Lupin]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Please not just after we've sunk everything and mortgaged ourselves to the hilt :(

[Moorf]

I don't see much let-up around these parts, Bob, could it be regional? In fact, I think section prices are rising in our district (Selwyn), if anything....

[IanW99]

Not seen any downturn around Wellington either at most maybe a slowdown.

See Property Value Map (https://www.qv.co.nz/onlinereports/propertyvaluemap.htm) for increase in prices over the last twelve months.

Of course, it may only just have started and won't show on the statistics for another few months.

Ian

[Nienke]

Auckland is slowing down, and I'm seeing lower house prices as well in Titirangi. Except for the most popular streets where houses sell over one weekend, the rest takes ages to sell.

[sizzlingbadger]

Definitely on the turn to a buyers market. It's been doing that around here for the last couple of months, not to say houses aren't selling for top money still though. Not sure if we'll see a massive drop in prices, just the whole country evening out (well hopefully, anyone got a crystal ball handy :D ).

[Familyofmonkeys]

Prices definitely seem to lowering slightly here in Auckland. What we are seeing is houses on the market for ages, then reducing the price as not selling. Again, not in all areas but i've noticed it enough in different areas of North, West and East Auckland that there must be a pattern emerging here.

[mossum]

Basically houses are taking longer to sell - prices are still holding - certantly we are still achieving some record prices

however....

Houses now have to be priced to meet the market where as in the past the market was rising so fast that it met the price of the house .

I listed a house on 8ha this week and had an offer on it before the sign went up- lol wish more were like that !

Vic x

[Milliemoo]

Houses now have to be priced to meet the market

Vic x

That being a buyers market. Buyers who have either been priced out completely or have lost confidence in the market, which either way will lead to prices falling.

We (and I'm sure we're not alone) are able to save money each month because it's so much cheaper to rent than to buy. There's nothing happening to make me think I should rush out and commit myself to a huge mortgage. Just the opposite in fact.

It'll be interesting to see what happens in Auckland over the next few months because it will be indicative as to what happens elsewhere in NZ, albeit to a lesser extent. Prices have been steady for a few months and I think we'll start to see the median price dropping soon rather than just pockets in the market eg: CBD apartments, which people can't give away at the moment.

Interesting times ahead me thinks.

Milliemoo

[bob_the_engineer]

Thanks for your reply’s, that made for an interesting read,

Lupin, I wouldn’t worry, I think HB prices fell about a year ago.

I know lots of rentals are being dumped onto the market in Welly, and I’m seeing houses stuck for about a year.

I’m not exaggerating, today I’ve had two calls from agents telling me about reductions on houses I’ve viewed. One was reduced by 25k, the other was reduced 32k (odd figure)

Oh I’ve seen at least two pulled off the market and re-rented out, because they wouldn’t sell.

I’m watching with interest (but I’m not about to buy).

Bob


Hmm I guess it all depends on what happens next with the interest rates

Oh and try listings all the houses “new listings” on trademe, then compare it with what’s been on the market for a while, that makes for an interesting read too.