Is it the Right Time to Buy???

Well the question had to be asked here after the Herald's headline today......"Expert's tip: Now's the time to buy a house".

The expert was of course BNZ chief economist Tony Alexander and his suggestion does come with some conditions with job security coming top of that list. But his comment are general positive and it was a welcome change to read the Herald front page and find it not containing doom and gloom around the property market.

In short, he predicts a further 5% drop in the market, a period of stability with rises next year.

Kieran Trass focuses on renewed investor interest and the fact that many properties now are cashflow positive and on the inside page there is a further article on shortage of good rental property and the likely lead into increasing rents. Cheap houses, low interest rates and rising rents do make a good recipe for investment.

Certainly these comments echo the past week or so at Auckland Home Loans where it has been hectic. Plenty of interest from new and existing clients and the smiles are returning to many of our real estate colleagues.

Would love to hear what you think on this one.....would you buy now.....or still hold awhile?

Wow....Who hit the Go Button!?

All of a sudden things have become very busy here and all of the team are pretty much flat out at the moment. I wonder if we are typical of what's happening around the place? Perhaps the good real estate folks who tune in here can pass some comment or maybe some of the Home Loan Group consultants from around the country can tell us what going on in their neck of the woods?

I'd imagine that the first lecture in the first term of Economics 101 would be on supply and demand. A lot of the stock that was on the market 12 months ago did'nt sell (high rates/nervous buyers) and were withdrawn. Now I hear of an absence of good stock, plenty of buyer inquiry and even tales of multi offer scenarios!!!

The question is.....will this environment of short supply and increasing demand have a positive effect on the property market?

Would love to hear your thoughts!!

Rate Update

More good news on the rate front over the weekend, but also i think something for all of you on floating rates to watch out for. ASB and BNZ dropped their short rates, BNZ at 6 months and ASB at 1 year but notice that ASB have popped up their longer rates at 4 and 5 years.

Despite what some might think the banks arent daft and as more and more break rates and take the 6 month and variable rate options they will be looking to make some better margin on the long term rates. Only a month ago ASB was 5.95% across the board....now theres a 55 point gap between their 6 month and 5 year rate.

When the floating and variable rates hit rock bottom it will be interesting to see what the long options are and if the lenders have built a little in there anticipating an ability to lock in clients for the long term on good margins.

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Westpac Rate Drop

Effective Monday Westpac have dropped their floating rate to 6.49% and their 6 month rate to 5.79%

Welcome!!!

Hi everyone, welcome to day one of NZ Mortgage Musings! Hope that you find something of interest (no pun intended) on the site whether you're in the property game, an investor or a potential first home buyer.

Whilst I'll pop in here from time to time and post my own news and views, the Musings will work best when brains better than mine contribute their thoughts.

And if you're browsing and there's a question not covered by any posts please feel free to email me and we'll get things answered for you.

Thanks for stopping by,

Dave