FREE iPad - Promotion

Thinking of Selling ?

List & Sell your property exclusively with Barry McKean Bayleys Palmerston North and receive a free iPad.

If you are considering selling, call me and I will discuss with you the best method of marketing your property to take advantage of current market conditions.

I am committed to maximising the value of my clients real estate assets.

For totally professional service, call or email me today to secure your iPad

Conditions: Promotion starts 27/10/10. Property must be exclusively listed with Barry McKean, before December 2010 and sold during the agency listing period. Customer will be provided with free ipad(16GB WiFi model) upon settlement of a sale of the listed property by Bayleys.

Start buying houses, says Kiwibank boss

New Kiwibank chief executive Paul Brock is urging potential first home buyers not to be spooked and to go out and buy, so long as they can afford to.

Brook told interest.co.nz that purchasing a first home was "almost a rite of passage for New Zealanders" and that potential buyers shouldn't be put off by concerns that house prices will fall, interest rates will rise or by a weak economy.

"I think at the end of the day there's no right or wrong time to get into the (housing) market," Brock said. 

"The key is actually whether customers themselves can actually afford it, afford the loan. And that should be the primary driver."

Brock, who recently replaced Sam Knowles as Kiwibank's CEO, said he would be concerned if people were being put off home ownership. He noted the overall housing market had slowed down "quite a lot" and, although he didn't have the data at his fingertips, there was a feeling that first home buyers might be stepping out of the market.

"That's a bit of a concern really for New Zealand . From my point of view home ownership is really good," said Brock. 

"It's one of those things that's both good for the individual to get started towards financial security, I think it's good for the country and it's also good for the community that people are owning their own homes."

"In a way it's almost that rite of passage for New Zealanders, the opportunity to get started and in many cases it is the first step towards financial security," Brock added.

"Making that step is really, really important. So I would be concerned if people are being put off by views on property prices, or views on interest rates."

The state owned bank's most recent General Disclosure Statement shows Kiwibank's mortgage book rose by about NZ$307 million to NZ$9.6 billion at June 30. The June quarter saw Kiwibank record its slowest mortgage growth since the June 2008 quarter when it wrote about NZ$261.7 million worth of new business.

But although Westpac's housing loans rose more in the June quarter, by NZ$365 million, Kiwibank's mortgage lending growth has been spectacular over the past two years as the bank has offered discounted fixed mortgage rates and variable rates, as it has outstripped mortgage book growth from the big four Australian owned banks ASB, ANZ, BNZ and Westpac. See all bank mortgage rates here.

Since the June 2008 quarter, Kiwibank's residential mortgage book has grown by about NZ$4.7 billion. However, Brock acknowledged growth had slowed in recent months saying it was a demand driven slowdown.

"The market has slowed down a bit and that's really driven by the economy," Brock said.

"But at the end of the day what Kiwibank is all about is, and we've been about this all the way through the global financial crisis, is continuing to stick to our principles and making sure that we do continue to lend. And we have continued to do that all the way through."

Kiwibank has continued to lend more than 80 per cent of a house purchase price to some customers' right through the global financial crisis, he said.

The most recent monthly figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ) showed 4,287 properties were sold in August, down on the record low July volumes of 4,411 and down 27 per cent from 5,878 in August 2009.

$500m pulled from NZ commercial property in two years

By Susie Nordqvist

Nearly half a billion dollars of overseas funds has left the investment property market in New Zealand since 2008 as foreign investors come under pressure to sell down assets during the recession.

Research from CB Richard Ellis shows property trusts and other managed funds have been the most prevalent sellers during the past two years.

The research covers office buildings, retail space and industrial space in the investment market.

Other managed funds made up 65 per cent of all properties sold in the first half of this year alone, largely due to the sale of assets by
Australia's Brookfield Multiplex, the report said.

CB Richard Ellis senior director Zoltan Moricz said the results were telling given the scale of foreign investment previously.

During 2006 and 2007 the net inflow of foreign funds into the investment market was nearly half a billion dollars.

The report shows in the first half of this year alone $204 million worth of foreign funds left our shores, largely due to a pull-back from Australian investors.

"It's quite a significant feature of the market because overseas investors were prevalent then (2006 and 2007) and they were immediate drivers of the market in relation to liquidity and pricing," he said.

Moricz said institutions with listed property trusts and other managed funds had been heavy sellers because quite a few of them had been close to - or were breaching - their covenant ceilings.

New Zealand was seen as a peripheral market rather than a core market for many overseas investors, and therefore one which they were prepared to sell out of, Moricz said.

The pressure had not been as severe on private sellers because they were 'more transparent and flexible in some cases', Moricz said.

Private sellers made up 25 per cent of all sellers during the first six months of this year.

The proportion of mortgagee sales remained stable during the same period, making up about 5 per cent of total transactions.

However this number may increase as receivers work through the complexities of some larger holdings and portfolios, CBRE said.

Moricz said greater uncertainty and loss of sentiment around the economic outlook has contributed to a loss of momentum in the investment market.

However he expects the outlook to improve next year.

"By the second half of 2011 the recovery will be more sustained and more engrained."

"At the moment there are still some short-term issues to work through," he said.

Access to credit, pressure to sell, and a lack of confidence were all features of the current market, Moricz said.

However these were hiccups rather than a sign the economy was headed for a double dip recession, he said.

Building consents keep falling - down 9pc in August

The number of consents issued for new homes has fallen to its lowest level in more than a year, Statistics New Zealand (SNZ) said today.

The seasonally adjusted number of new housing units, excluding apartments, fell 8.9 per cent during August, well down on the 6 per cent fall recorded in the month prior.

SNZ said consents for 1193 new dwellings and 36 apartment units were authorised during the period.

When the volatile apartment category is included, the seasonally adjusted number of new housing units authorised fell 18 per cent, following a 2.4 percent rise in July.

Statistics New Zealand's business statistic manager Louise Holmes-Oliver said the trend for consents issued for new homes, excluding apartments, has been falling since March, following increases that began in April last year

The current level is 39 per cent lower than the most recent peak during June 2007.

The value of consents issued for residential buildings was $473 million in August 2010, up 7.6 percent compared with a year earlier.

In contrast, the value of non-residential buildings was $296 million, down 23 per cent.

ASB Bank economist Chris Tennent-Brown said that from September onwards building consent data would be significantly affected by the Canterbury earthquake.

"Beyond Canterbury, our forecasts for the overall economic recovery in New Zealand contain a weak outlook for the construction sector. Today's building consent data are consistent with this view, but further weakness in ex-Canterbury consent issuance would imply weaker overall housing construction than we are anticipating," said Tennent-Brown.

"With a low level of activity in the housing market, there is little in the way of a catalyst beyond the earthquake to stimulate a pick up in residential activity," he said.

The three regions which recorded the largest changes from year ago figures were: Auckland, up 105 units to 321, Canterbury, down 44 units to 191, Waikato, down 42 units to 158.

- NZ HERALD ONLINE

Manawatu still very affordable

By JIMMY ELLINGHAM - The Manawatu Standard
The Manawatu has remained the country's third most affordable area to buy a house, but early signs show that prices could be on the rise.

A Massey University report found the Manawatu/Whanganui region was one of the most affordable place to buy a house in New Zealand.

The region is usually classed as one of the more affordable in the quarterly report, which looks at prices and other factors like interest rates and wages across 13 regions.

Massey real estate unit head Professor Bob Hargreaves said low house prices in Whanganui "dragged Manawatu down" in the figures.

The wider region's third ranking behind Otago and Southland was "pretty consistent".

The report revealed the region's home affordability didn't improve as much as most parts of New Zealand, but Prof Hargreaves said this could be attributed to a rise in median sale prices for houses – an often volatile figure.

August's QV valuer Jason Hockly said it was still a buyers' market, although this could change as the weather fined up.

However, Harcourts Manawatu area manager Andy Stewart said in his 20 years in the real estate business, he had seen prices stabilise at the bottom of a plateau for two or three years at a time.

This consistency in pricing led to affordability, he said.

The report found that affordability in Manawatu/Whanganui had improved by 3.6 per cent in the last 12 months, down on the national average of 9.7 per cent.

There was only a small rise in the last quarter as all "affordability drivers", such as wages and interest rates, were subdued.

The median price in Palmerston North was $256,444. It was $230,000 in Feilding.

Figures from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand released last month showed the number of houses sold in Palmerston North and Feilding had hit decade lows.

 __________________________________________________________________________________________

Demand remains high for good quality family homes - the city's larger employers Massey university & Mid central health  with staffing of  more than 3500 between them a keep the local real estate industry churning over.

Barry McKean