NZ 1st homebuyers are ScReWeD...

[AMR]

I can't see why inflation is such a bad thing. If anything, I believe a period of elevated inflation (5%+) would be good for wiping out the mess the US housing bubble created.

[Dr_Who]

I can't see why inflation is such a bad thing. If anything, I believe a period of elevated inflation (5%+) would be good for wiping out the mess the US housing bubble created.

It is a catch 22 situation.

Finding a balance is the key.

[drew]

A few things to to think over that has happened in the last few years that some of you might be unaware off that will hit your property values shortly.
1,Septic tanks now cost four times as much to install thanks to the greenies.
2,double glazing and over the top insulation rules that pushes the price of new homes to ever higher levels.
3,Engineer reports and resource consents at every turn simply because councils are so incompetant that they now wont make decisions.
4,Plans have to be detailed down to extraordinary levels costing twice as much.
5, Developing property at reasonable prices for the future mum and dads is a thing of the past simply because of cost increases before you even start to build..
In ten years time the price of property will be more than double, just like it has always been Macdunk

Great points you make there duncan. You are definitely on to something. A few years ago I was convinced that property prices would be hit hard but they have hardly moved at all to my surprise.

We can all see that houses have been expensive for a long time now compared to typical measures of median income, rental yields etc. But that is just looking at the demand side.

The supply side of the equation is being ignored in most cases and will not get fixed until something is done about govt and local council policies. It just makes no sense that we have no oversupply of houses when there is so much land available including urban areas. We should have created an oversupply during the boom years because prices were high and kept going up so there were plenty of incentives for investors to build more houses.

But the only oversupply we have is of apartments, which have been supplied by the market as a cheaper substitute. In the US residential property prices crashed because there was an oversupply of homes, but we dont have that problem here.

Now govt intends to tax property and land owners? Thats just crazy. They should be encouraging prices to go up because that is the only way more houses will be built. Unless of course govt and councils stop telling us how to build houses and remove all of the additional costs they impose on home builders.

I would have thought after the leaky homes scandal councils would be trying to remove themselves from setting and enforcing standards and stop telling people how to build houses.

[duncan macgregor]

Inflation is good for some and bad for others. In my own particular experience in the past inflation was my best friend. I bought property, paid through the nose for a couple of years then found the mortgage was at very low levels due to inflation. most working people in my era had long term mortgages at much lower rates than inflation. People got rich with the banks money at least the smart ones did. Similar opportunities today my friends with similar doomsayers bleating the opposite. Inflation is on the way up take long term mortgages today and sit back and pray for it.
Macdunk

[George]

Don't know if this should be part of the equation, but from 2012
you won't be able to use your open fire or older firebox.
Waitakere council have a $560 permit fee for a new box and much more
for an older one to check it complies. We will be up for $3000 for a basic
model, 20% of that in council fees - it's legal robbery.
Thought about getting a pot belly but they are only legal in rural
areas and, according to one retailer, council will use planes to fly over
and measure with infra-red if anyone is not compliant, so there goes my
do-it-yrself plan to outwit council.
George

[fungus pudding]

From New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/wo...0288.html?_r=1

[beacon]

From New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/wo...0288.html?_r=1

That link leads to a 2007 article fungus. Is that what you were referring to?

[fungus pudding]

That link leads to a 2007 article fungus. Is that what you were referring to?

I was referring to whatever that link leads to. Could be 2007. There was quite a few things written that year that I haven't caught up with yet.

[Arbitrage]

Hi Arbitrage are you looking specifically at houses or considering apartments now?

Possibly apartments in the urban fringe (Parnell, Mt Eden, Epsom, Herne Bay, Ponsonby etc) i.e outside the Auckland cbd.

While perhaps not getting the capital gains of houses, my reasons are they are affordable, rentable, easily maintained, while still close enough to the central city for my target tenant (professionals). In the future they can be incrementally sold down to reduce debt.

If they are a few years old, they will have a track record in the Body Corporate minutes which will show up any defects (such as leaks) as well.

[Ptolemy]

Interesting blog by Mish Shedlock on mortgage stress amongst first home buyers in Australia.

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogsp...-fools-in.html

The research is interesting. I know most of you think this couldn't happen here, my question would be why not?