The Investor 13 November 2007
Preparing for a possible property price plunge. The volume of house sales is slowing. Houses are taking longer to sell. And some apartment prices are falling. What if house prices are next to fall?
Preparing for a possible property price plunge. The volume of house sales is slowing. Houses are taking longer to sell. And some apartment prices are falling. What if house prices are next to fall?
Q&As: Is now a good time for a 36-year-old to buy a house? And if so, should it be a bigger house, so she can take in tenants?; Four Q&As on how KiwiSaver works — or doesn’t work — for those living overseas or planning to live overseas.
Q&As: The inter-generation battle rages on in six Q&As, and we also get several readers’ ideas on how Gen Xers can cope with high house prices; Succinct advice from a reader’s Dad who suffered in the Depression.
Q&As: Three readers defend baby boomers and suggest how today’s young could afford to buy homes; A Generation Xer speaks up for her generation; A reader worries that apartments may lose value.
Q&As: Auckland houses may be unaffordable, but apartments aren’t; One man is happy with is inexpensive home; Homeowner feels anything but smug about being in the housing market; War is declared between the baby boomers and the younger generation; Last time New Zealand tried to control rents, it was disastrous.
Q&As: Would-be homeowners may need to lower their standards a bit — with some help from Monty Python; Inflation hits property at least as much as share funds; Californian astounded by our “real estate mania”.
Q&As: Rent control would do more harm than good; The cost of staying out of the housing market; Reader insists it’s worthwhile to try to time foreign exchange movements. It’s all his!
Obsessed with property? Not us. New Zealanders are not as property mad — or as mortgage mad — as we’ve been led to believe, recent research shows.
Q&As: A tax on house sales, to subsidise first home owners, is a lovely idea that wouldn’t work; Renting and saving elsewhere can leave you better off than home ownership; Semi-retired couple who sold their home and rent are probably doing fine.
Q&As: Have you got what it takes to borrow to invest in a share fund?; How frequent traders in international shares will be taxed under the new rules; How Inland Revenue might catch property traders.