The numbers continue to indicate to ourselves that New Zealand’s housing market has been through its bad patch for this cycle but there is not underway a price response as such yet to the shortage of dwellings. This will eventually come but it is likely to be muted initially because of rising unemployment over the coming year, slow wages growth, and tighter lending standards by mortgage providers. But it seems worthpositioning for.
Key Forecasts
• Dwelling consent numbers to slowly recover from the middle of this year.
• Real estate sales have bottomed for this cycle. Activity is likely to fluctuate and begin a drift upward
before year end with potentially firm activity over 2010.
• House prices stabilising, rising slightly over 2010.
This is of course Tony's view at a macro (National Level) but its encouraging..
