Frank Newman: Regulation risks for property investors

The ANZ Bank and the New Zealand Property Investors’ Federation (NZPIF) have released the findings of their annual property investors’ survey. It’s an interesting insight into the thinking of residential property investors and how that thinking has been shaped by government policy and market conditions. Members of the NZPIF tend to be larger investors who have been in the game for a number of years which is reflected in the results.  1156 property investors took part in the survey.  

The general themes to emerge are:

• Concerns about government regulation,
• Debt reduction, and
• An expectation that property prices will continue to rise.

Mike Butler: Any worker can own a home

Any worker can own a home, according to the NZ Property Investors’ Federation, which has released a Home Affordability Planning Calculator. Federation president Andrew King said "housing has been deemed unaffordable so often that it is now considered a fact". King criticised the ratio of house prices to incomes, which currently stands at 5.4, with 3 being the proposed ideal level, as a crude measure of housing affordability as it doesn’t take account of historic low interest rates and does not include Government subsidies and grants.