Chaos Reigns – Or Does It ?

OCR steady, First Home Buyers Grant gone, brightline test back to square one, investor interest deductibility reinstated, debt to income ratios start 1 July, LVR’s, job losses, the Budget, the cost of living, not to mention protest marches …………………………..

From The New Zealand Herald on May 22: “The Reserve Bank has held the Official Cash Rate (OCR) unchanged at 5.5%, saying inflation is falling and should be back on track by the end of 2024.”

From One Roof Property on June 4: “Last week the Reserve Bank announced debt-to-income (DTI) ratio restrictions would take effect from July 1. The details of the new rules had already been flagged earlier in the year: 80% of bank lending will now be governed by a set multiple of the applicant’s pre-tax income. For owner-occupiers, it’s a multiple of six, and for investors, it’s a multiple of seven, although the rules won’t apply to new-builds or non-bank lenders.”

Director of City Realty Group, Daniel Horrobin comments: “Despite all of the above, the property market in general and the central city apartment market in particular, remain remarkably healthy.”

Michelle Moffitt from Realestate.co.nz reports: “In April, we saw total traffic continuing to track up, increasing 13.9% year on year. The number of property seekers on our app, our most engaged audience, also increased – up 16.23% compared to last year.”

Daniel says: “Our Ray White corporate office reports activity across the country, including listings, up 20-30% on this time last year.” 

“The number of TradeMe listed properties for sale in Auckland’s Central City Apartment space continues to trend up and now hover around or above the 650 mark.  This is evidence that sellers generally believe that they can achieve a result in the current market,” adds Daniel.

“A statistic that may surprise and demonstrates engagement also from property buyers, is that across the month of May 2024, our team welcomed 334 buyers through our open homes, up a whopping 40% on the previous month, April,” declares Daniel.

“Our auction numbers, although not keeping pace with numbers earlier in the year, remain steady.” Daniel adds: “Auction provides a compelling point of difference in a market where buyers are spoilt for choice. In fact another interesting statistic arising from our open home monitoring, is that half of all open home attendees in May, were visiting properties being sold by auction.”

In the property management/rental world Daniel reports some exciting news. “Our partner, SuperCity Property Management, not only moved into brand new Eden Terrace premises this past month but was awarded Fastest Business Growth for the last quarter by Ray White NZ. This is an award they and we are extremely proud of and a wonderful note on which to finish the month.”