We are not going to fall off a cliff!

After a fun couple of months with the Lions and American’s Cup taking up much of the countries attention I now expect this to divert to the upcoming election. While the property market has already slowed considerably I expect it may continue to do so until post 23^rd of September.

While the mainstream media seems to be doing its best to crash the market in reality it is just not going to happen and there is no “cliff” we are about to fall off.

While investors, in particular shouldn’t bank on the capital gains of the last few years continuing this does create some opportunities for those who stick to good buying rules and also opens up the market for first home buyers who previously were struggling to get in. Auction closure rates remain at a much lower level than what we had all got used to which makes it much easier to negotiate based on a conditional sales contract basis.

There are still positive factors in the market as well:

• Migration continues to grow at an exceptional rate with Auckland’s population alone estimated as increasing in population size by circa 44,000 in the year to June and around 72,000 across the country in the year to May.
• The “funding gap” that had resulted in funding being easily available and tightening significantly since around August last year has closed a little. Note that this does not mean that the relaxed credit market of the last few years has returned but more that domestic deposits and credit demand are now more in synch.
• The unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in nearly a decade and trending lower with the real potential upside for many of wage increases as a by-product of these supply issues (as an aside have a read over THIS interactive article to see if your job is at risk with all the technological changes we are so used to experiencing these days).

This is both a time to be cautious but also be wary of suffering too much “paralysis by analysis” as well. If you’d like to discuss further feel free to give one of the team a call on  486 4719 or complete the form below.