[Andy T]

Does anyone have a view as to whether house prices in Cristchurch and surrounding areas is likely to inflate or deflate over the next three years?

We're just about to leave the UK and either rent or buy in NZ, so I'd be interested on your views.

[Moorf]

My personal opinion ( or hope/ FERVENT PRAYER!) is that prices, over the next 3 years, will rise.

I don't think we'll see the same hike in prices as we have done over the last few years and we don't expect to see big rises this year (hopefully it will stabilise and not drop as, like some others on the forum, we have recently purchased).

% increase will depend on the area. Certain areas are already staked out for further expansion of residential zoning / sections and some areas are chocka-block or already sold out.

As I see it, houses/sections with views are currently at a premium and will continue to be so.

I believe seaside, rural and harbourside areas will continue to rise as commuting becomes less of a swear word to Kiwi's.

There was an article in The Press a month or so ago which basically demonstrated that areas that would perhaps be pegged out as "less desirable" showed the highest increase in prices during the 2nd half of 2004 - perhaps as the more desirable areas reached prices that were out of reach of most Kiwi's (or even us immigrants!).

Quite honestly, when all is said and done, it's so hard to forecast these things - so many external factors could change the economy / housing market in the next few years. We do rather feel that we have taken somewhat of a "gamble" by putting our money into a property here in NZ at this time - but it was that or pay out for rent (which would have cost us c $15000 a yr) which is dead money in my eyes.

All I can say is thank god we didn't have to worry about school zones AS WELL AS where to live! I don't envy those who have to balance the two.