That'd be a fool's errand. NZ has a history (roghtly or wrongly) of high interest rates, and I anticipate that while the (frankly ludicrous) requirement for a 20% deposit will be waived, interest rates will rise. They have to - National has ~$60bn (or whatever) of debt to repay.
Huh? NZ's public sector debt to GDP is one of the lowest in the developed world. If our govt debt was high (it isn't), that would be an incentive to LOWER rates. You are also overlooking the independence of the RBNZ & govt but that's another story.
Interest rates rises are mostly employed to curb inflation - in the developed world there is no inflation. Europe is actually steering down the barrel at deflation. The ECB has negative deposit rates - so charge banks to hold cash overnight. Such is the magnitude of the problem. No inflation = no interest rate rises.
The RBNZ has commented the kiwi dollar is overvalued. They put their money where their mouth is by selling half a billion NZD in the last month in order to get it lower - something they haven't done for many years. The RBNZ's commitment to lower NZD is further proof more rate rises are extremely unlikely.
I think Dave may have an excellent point. Immigration isn't to NZ - it is to Auckland. And that spells disaster. Admittedly much of the business centre is in Auckland, but much of the immigration we are seeing is either unrelated to that business, or is seeing a net outflow of money from NZ as a result of work performed here. (I could stereotype about some of the immigration taking place, but let's not go there.)
Yes, agree.
But that's not property prices.
Sort the railway. A commuter service between Auckland and Wellington would open up many areas currently accessible only by car. Business would move to those areas, and so would people, easing the housing problems in densely populated regions.
Because governments have such a successful history of intervening in the railways in this country... As a taxpayer I'd rather a solid kick in the nuts than go through that exercise again.
There are some signs of business relocating out of the CBD. Albany is an example. Tauranga and Hamilton will probably pick up a lot of the Auckland spillover in time. The cost of living (and arguably the lifestyle) in those cities is highly favorable so it makes sense for head offices to go there. Staff will take a pay cut because their mortgage repayments are halved. Therefore lower costs for the company - everybody wins.
Instead we have policy that will see the cramming of more and more building into smaller and smaller (and more and more expensive) areas. There's no doubt purchasing property in those areas as little as 10 years ago is now proving to be a most astute (if accidental) financial investment.
What's the alternative? More sprawl, more traffic, more stretched infrastructure?
