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: 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: Woman in mid 50s, who is renting, explores options for buying a home; 2 Q&As about the $50,000 threshold in the new regime on taxation of international shares. Also: Seeking your questions about KiwiSaver.
The other B word: While some people find it easy to follow a budget, others struggle. Here are some tips for the latter group. Also in this issue: From the Mailbox — Couple who sold their house save heaps by renting. But should they wait for a price fall before buying again?
Readers’ questions on renting v home ownership. My last column — which said that you may do just as well renting as owning your home, provided you are disciplined about saving elsewhere — brought interesting questions from two readers. The first one is 40 and planning to return to New Zealand with his family. “I would be happy renting until I retire whilst growing our capital in areas other than property,” he writes. “At some time later I might buy a small place to live in. However, do you think in 25 years that ownership of property might be out of reach?”
Owning your home not always the best option. Most New Zealanders grow up expecting to own their own home, but soaring house prices have made it harder for people to get into the market. Does that matter? Is home ownership all it’s cracked up to be?
Q&As: Should newly separated woman buy a house or rent?; Our total tax rate depends on whether we spend or save. Plus: End of year message.
Home ownership not the only road to wealth. Shock, horror! Home ownership is falling and will continue to fall. But is that so bad?