NZ 1st homebuyers are ScReWeD...

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For a start the statistics may not be clearly showing the number of agent multi-listings - hence you may have a bit of double vision.

Weren't they there before? Surely, they haven't just started doubling after Government's stated intention to tweak residential property legislation ...

trading houses. There may be listings out there that are people just giving it a shot to see what happens.
If the price is right they'll sell. If its not then they'll hold until there is movement.

We can speculate on motives and eventual possible outcomes till the cows come home. The fact remains that the number of listings has increased. I'll let the facts speak for themselves ...

Minor birds on the road which you reckon are bound to end up dead - but they are canny bastards and they will be fine. Will changes in depreciation rules create distressed sellers like possums on the road at night. Sure there will be a few of these - there always were - there always will be.

These are real people we are talking about - the very "taxpayers" who've sweated and toiled blood and tears, who've saved and sacrificed to build wealth. These are the worker bees who saved and metamorphosed into investors. We guarantee and protect the savers but write off investors as being "greedy", "opportunistic", "canny bastards". Are they really? Who would you nurture instead?

Maybe they are canny, and maybe they are not. The issue is equanimity. Why single them out for punishment? Simply because they are too unorganised as a lobby?

What we have to hope for is that the changes don't impact heavily on government and local body housing stock

Will hope suffice? We are driving towards an incoming train and hoping there'll be very little damage - literal or collateral. Appropriate timely action has a better chance at averting disaster. Sure, there'll still be private landlords. But they will have to pass on an increasingly bigger portion of their increased costs onto ... tenants. As more private landlords quit this industry, guess who has to pick up the mantle? Was this outcome intended or foreseen by the government planners? Or will it be philosophically written off as minor collateral damage... If so, to what end?

In the hope that capital will migrate to creating national economic wealth. Without building the necessary ground for it? What groundwork has the Government completed to facilitate this? What eductaion has been imparted? Is the NZX now better at communicating company disclosures? Are the property trusts not still charging fees on assets under management and regardless of their mismanagement of assets versus taking their fair share from profit? Are our companies now fairly valued or better managed? Have we put any while collar criminals behind bars yet?Yeah right. And pigs will fly. At best, we will just create an industry that engages in speculation or enforce a transfer of wealth to a fund management industry that's badly let the nation down.

When you are looking out your windscreen can you see clearly down to the end of your driveway? One thing’s for sure - you can't see clearly what is two miles down the road. I'm waiting for the government to actually announce its changes to residential investments to give me clarity.

Pardon the vanity, but I am beacon. I am expected to be miles ahead - to look ahead. I profess no special powers or privilege to see clearly what is two miles down the road, but being ahead of some I do see what's ahead a bit earlier than them. I am happy to be a lone voice. (Readers - exercise your own judgement before taking any action based on anybody's expressed views)

Meanwhile back to credit. This week we've seen Westpac lower two of their rates so that their 5.65% floating is the lowest in the market.

You're looking in the wrong place again brother. Forget the headline teasers. Go look at what's happening with LVRs. You'll have a better understanding of what I'm on about.