Christchurch is New Zealand's second city, deal with it

To any unassuming, New Zealand-curious reader, the rational conclusion would be that Wellington was the more populated city. A visit to the Wellington page provided confirmation; it is, apparently, "the second-most populous urban area of New Zealand". Read Now

Auckland is open for new year business, but what about the motorway?

February 15 will be an exciting day if you’re a regular commuter between Auckland and the Waikato.

That’s when the Huntly section of the Waikato Expressway will open to the public to walk, run, and cycle, a liberating 15km of four-lane highway that takes SH1 east of Huntly across the lowlands and the Taupiri Range. Read Now

NZ house-building hits highest mark since 1974

New Zealand residential construction has reached a 45-year high, running at a pace not seen since 1974.

Statistics NZ said a record number of consents were issued for 37,010 new houses in the year to November 2019, "the highest in a year since the mid-1970s. There were 37,919 new homes consented in the year ended September 1974." Read Now

New York Times puts Christchurch on prestigious travel list

Christchurch has landed a spot on the prestigious New York Times' "52 Places to Go in 2020".

The US newspaper issues a list every year of the places it thinks are the important locations in the world to visit.

Last year, it picked the Paparoa Track as New Zealand's only entrant, and this year Christchurch gets the honour in 24th place. Read Now

What's coming for Christchurch in 2020?

With 2020 marking a decade since the start of the quakes and the rebuild, what will be finished and ready for action in Christchurch this year? LIZ McDONALD takes a look.

About the only certainty so far in Christchurch's rebuild timeframe has been that reworked plans, cost overruns and construction hiccups make a nonsense of deadlines. Read Now

Massive housing shortfall forecast

A council commissioned assessment has revealed that under current rules the Wellington region won't be able to keep up with new housing demand. After twenty twenty seven council rules would begin to smother the ability of developers to supply enough new homes. Wellington City alone could face a shortfall of up to twelve thousand homes. Read Now

New Zealand population has had big migration boost, Stats NZ says

Migration added a net 56,000 people to New Zealand's population in the year to June, Stats NZ says. That meant the population increased by about 11 people for every 1000 living here, slightly down from a peak of 13.8 in 2016. New Zealand is well ahead of many other countries. In the United States, the net migration rate was three per 1000 people in 2018. Germany was 4.8, Britain 3.5 and Australia 9.5. Read Now

Construction of the first homes in a new residential development near Auckland underway

Construction of the first homes at a new idyllic lakeside residential development is underway – and already many of the best lakefront spots have been snapped up. Located on the banks of Lake Waikare near the township of Te Kauwhata, the development - known as Lakeside - will give most of the homes views of the lake’s restful waters. Read Now

Demand soars for rentals across the country

Tenants around the country are facing tough competition and increasing rents after the number of enquiries on rental listings rose 17 per cent nationwide in the last year, according to the latest Trade Me Rental Price Index. Trade Me Property’s Aaron Clancy said with rentals in hot demand, the national median rent rose 3.1 per cent on last year to $495 per week and some regions experienced significant annual growth. Read Now

Homeowners benefit from low interest rates

ANZ has cut the rates on some of its fixed-term mortgages. Its six-month fixed mortgage rate will drop to 3.65 per cent and its two-year fixed special rate to 3.45 per cent from October 15. Its one-year rate will be 3.55 per cent.

"As New Zealand's largest home lender, we're committed to helping Kiwis into their own homes," said Ben Kelleher, acting ANZ managing director retail and business banking. Read Now

Hamilton to Auckland rail full steam ahead: $92m funding announced

A new rail service from Hamilton to Auckland is well on track after funding has been approved by the NZ Transport Agency. Transport Minister Phil Twyford announced today that $92.37 million will go towards the construction and operation of the new service, with $79.8m coming from NZTA and $12.57m from local authorities. Twyford said the service is an important first step to strengthening the connection between two of New Zealand's largest and fastest growing urban areas. More and more people are commuting between Hamilton and Auckland, and this service will give them a real choice between being stuck in traffic or relaxing on the train. Read Now

Christchurch crowned New Zealand's friendliest city

Christchurch is ranked as New Zealand's friendliest city, and the seventh friendliest city in the world, a new poll has revealed. The Garden City was the only New Zealand city ranked in the Big 7 Travel poll, which listed the top 50 friendliest cities in the world. Christchurch nabbed the placing based on it being a "testament to NZ". The poll looked at how easy a city was to navigate, or where people are made to feel most welcome. Big 7 says Christchurch locals have a "resilient and positive attitude" and "friendly Kiwi charm". Read Now

Progress on Christchurch's new $300 million metro sports facility

Work is well under way to transform an empty central city site into Christchurch's premier public sporting facility. The $301 million metro sports facility, being built on a site bordered by Moorehouse Ave and St Asaph and Antigua streets, is on schedule to be completed by the end of 2021. 

More than 15,000 cubic metres of material has so far been dug out of the ground to make way for the 50-metre pool, dive pool and leisure water area, an Ōtākaro Ltd spokesperson said. The excavation was about 65 per cent complete. Read Now

Foreign buyer ban impacts Queenstown Lakes

The foreign buyer ban impact was felt the most in Queenstown Lakes, but despite slowing growth, the market has attractive features for buyers, writes Joanna Jefferies.

Queenstown Lakes District was one of the biggest rockstar districts in the last wave of property price rises, but although the foreign buyer ban impact is possibly felt the most in this district, and growth has now slowed, there are still features in the market that make it well worth a look for investors. Read Now

REINZ June Monthly Report

Median house prices across New Zealand increased by 3.2% in May to $578,000, up from $560,000 in May 2018. Median price increases for New Zealand excluding Auckland were even stronger, increasing by 7.2% to $487,770 up from $455,000 in May last year, according to the latest data from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ), source of the most complete and accurate real estate data in New Zealand. Download Report

NZ’s Property Market Mapped

CoreLogic NZ’s latest ‘Mapping the Market’ (June 2019) report has just been released, using location analytics and geospatial expertise to give visual learners a better understanding of New Zealand’s property market. The constantly changing dynamics of New Zealand’s property market means that many would-be homeowners find it challenging to understand which suburbs currently match their home-buying budgets. View Map

Core Logic June 2019 Update

First home buyers are topic of the month this month, we check in their activity while also covering the latest in overall sales volumes and once again provide a word of caution around the misuse of certain statistics evaluating the market. Watch now

Ten property market predictions for the rest of 2019

Residential property sales activity looks set to tick along at the same controlled pace in the second half of the year as it has in the first, with average values growing in a restrained fashion. Other key factors to watch over the rest of 2019 include policy decisions from the Reserve Bank (e.g. LVR and bank capital rules), the landscape for investors’ returns, the potential flattening off of residential building consents... Read now

When you should expect Auckland house prices to start rising again

In the last three months there have been some important developments that have affected the underlying level of strength in housing markets around New Zealand. First, interest rates are falling anew. Back in February two-year fixed mortgage rates were typically near 4.3 per cent and three-year rates 4.5 per cent. Now both are just below 4 per cent. Read now

Core Logic May 2019 Update

Plenty to talk about this month, with the key influencers Government and RBNZ making a few big calls. Wondering about the Capital Gains Tax, Official Cash Rate and Foreign Buyer Ban? We look at the market impact of all. Watch now

Will Auckland’s House Prices Crash like Sydney’s?

There’s been a dramatic decline in house prices in many of Australia’s biggest cities. Some speculate that Auckland’s recent slide means it’s headed the same way. CoreLogic’s Ben Speedy compares the two markets. Plummeting prices in the Sydney housing market are sending shivers down the spines of Auckland home owners, who wonder if they’ll see the same thing happen to their homes’ values. Read now

REINZ May Monthly Report

Median house prices across New Zealand increased by 6.4% in April to a record equal $585,000, up from $550,000 in April 2018. Median price increases for New Zealand excluding Auckland were even stronger, increasing by 7.6% to a record $495,000 up from $460,000 in April last year, according to the latest data from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ), source of the most complete and accurate real estate data in New Zealand. Download Report

The tax ring-fence is unlikely to cause A change in investor behaviour

Although it’s not law yet, the tax ring-fence for rental property losses is likely to be approved and, when that happens, will apply to the current tax year (which has of course already started). But there are reasons to doubt that it will dramatically change the rental property landscape. Read now

Investors a strong presence in April (but not due to CGT scrapping)

Multiple property owners with a mortgage accounted for 25% of property purchases in April, continuing their gradual return from a lull in late 2017 and early 2018. Given timing issues, this cannot have been a bounce-back from capital gains tax-related uncertainty; rather a sign that investors still have faith in the prospects for the property market. First home buyers are also holding their ground in terms of market share, especially in the main centres. Read now