It’s officially the first month of winter and as we enter what is traditionally the quietest three months of the year, Christchurch stock is still around 350 properties down on where it usually sits. This is resulting in a continued strong enquiry rate for good quality properties and so we think a great time to plan for the future market. 

The weather may be cooling down, but plenty of heat still remains in the property market, with national average house prices hitting yet another record of $815,700 - a 16% increase on last year.  Canterbury has not been immune to this pressure.  Another interesting statistic is the amount of rent change across New Zealand.  The national percentage change from April 2020 to April 2021 was up 3.8%, Canterbury’s change was 4.7% with a median rent of $450pw.

I see the spin doctors are trying their hardest to take some heat out of the market with various pessimistic headlines. The one that gave me the best entertainment was, “as gloomy as it gets, one in five Kiwi’s think it’s a bad time to buy a house”, perhaps a better way to have phrased that would have been, “four out of five Kiwi’s think the time is right to buy property”.

The Canterbury Property Investors Association had a very interesting presenter at their last monthly forum.  Matthew Gilligan, from Gilligan Rowe and Associates, spoke about the pending changes to tax laws, the loss of interest cost deductibility and what the picture may look like going forward.  They have some similar information on their website if you missed that presentation.   

We can see the attraction of new builds gaining momentum, these are, at this stage, immune to the new tax rules and very much business as usual.  With the added benefit of retaining some interest deductibility to your portfolio, they offer low or no maintenance and with a chattels evaluation you can claim depreciation on the fit-out of the building. 

We truly appreciate your business and the team and I are always just a phone call away.  We always like to have a plan for our investment journey and I encourage you to have one also whether that be renovating, exploring the benefits of investing in a new build or maintaining your current place in the market.  We are always available for a free chat and are happy to share our experience and knowledge wherever we can be helpful.