There were 130 dwellings including apartments and 1 section sold in December in Waitakere City. The median selling price for dwellings was $742,500. The average days to sell was 31.

In January there were 192 dwellings including apartments and 10 sections sold. The median selling price for dwellings was $737,000 and the average days to sell was 42.

Capital Gains December 2012 – 2017 Median Prices 

Kelston 84.1%
Glendene 79.4%
Massey 72.1%

Capital Gains January 2013 – 2018 Median Prices

Ranui 82.5%
Glen Eden 74.8%
West Harbour 66.3%

The government is implementing a change from 2 years to 5 years for the bright line test. This means if a person buys an investment property to rent out and has to sell (eg loses job and can’t afford to keep it), they will have to pay tax on any capital gains.

This will reduce the number of people buying rental properties making the
already big shortage of rental properties worse. Rents will likely increase as the shortage continues to grow. Foreign buyers can now not buy existing New Zealand houses (except Australians).

Foreign buyers can buy new houses but the government now compels them to sell after 12 months. Very few are likely to buy under these restrictions so little help will come from this source to build New Zealand housing stock.
Perhaps we need to have a conversation about that or launch another
enquiry.

Do you want to know the value of your property? Its probably worth more than you think. Contact me for a free no obligation value update.

Best wishes,

John Goodrum

Licensee Agent REAA 2008

021945140

thelegendofthewest@gmail.com

There were 247 dwellings including apartments and 20 sections sold in November in Waitakere City. The median selling price was $750,000. The average days to sell was 33.

Capital Gains November 2012 – 2017 Median Prices 

Laingholm                   87.3%

Titirangi                       57.3%

Te Atatu Peninsula    114.7%

Again the official cash rate (OCR) remained the same at 1.75% at the latest reserve bank announcement on the 9th of November 2017. The announcement also indicated that the bank saw little likelihood of change until 2019.

With still very little detail of the new government policies it is very hard to predict property values going forward. The ANZ however do a NZ business confidence survey covering around 700 businesses. Last month this showed the lowest business confidence level since March 2009.

The level is now –39.3, prior to the election it was +18.3. Clearly business is very worried about its ability to trade profitability under the newly elected government with its spend mentality plus its cutting out the planned tax cuts for business and for all employees who generate wealth.

Many of the measures the new coalition government plan to implement such as cuts in migration (serious for horticulture, the building industry and hospitality) will have a negative impact on business and the broader economy. Compare this with overseas trading countries and it is clear why NZ business is not optimistic.

The UK proposes cutting the corporate tax rate from its present 19% to 17% by 2020. Japan is currently planning to cut its corporate tax rate from 30% to 20%. This month USA hope to implement corporate tax cuts from the present 35% to 21%. Our nearest neighbour and largest export market (March 2017 year) Australia is in the process of lowering its corporate tax rate to 25%. New Zealand’s corporate tax rate is currently 28%.

The longer term effect of this could well be a non-competitive business environment in NZ with the resultant loss of exports and falling living standards. Perhaps there will be more policy details next year?!

Do you want to know the value of your property? Its probably worth more than you think. Contact me for a free no obligation value update.

Best wishes,

John Goodrum

Licensee Agent REAA 2008

021945140

thelegendofthewest@gmail.com

There were 240 dwellings including apartments and 15 sections sold in Waitakere City in October. The median selling price was $780,000. The average days to sell was 34.

Capital Gains October 2012 – 2017 Median Prices 

Hobsonville          56.8%

Henderson           79.0%

Te Atatu South    53.5%

The latest reserve bank announcement on the 28th of September left the official cash rate (OCR) unchanged at 1.75%. Little has changed to the economy and the OCR is not expected to change this year and perhaps not in the first half of 2018. Following the election of a coalition government of the 2nd and 3rd parties in the general election, there is likely to be significant changes to the property market.

Signalled are cuts to immigration, overseas buyers not allowed to buy a house, extensions of the bright line test from 3 years to 5 years (buy and sell in less than 5 years and you will be required to pay capital gains tax). More restrictions on landlords and a warrant of fitness for rental property are just some of the impending changes. Since the announcement of the coalition government the New Zealand dollar has fallen which will make purchase of all imported good more expensive -  including building components.

The real estate industry and others have been lobbing for the LVR (loan to value ratio) restrictions to be eased especially for first home buyers but so far there is little indication that the reserve bank will listen. Adding to the mix is that the government wants to build an extra 10,000 houses a year (highly unlikely) due to the shortage of building tradespeople. We still have a shortage of about 40,000 houses in Auckland so taken together with all the above factors it is very difficult to predict what will happen with prices.

If I had to make a forecast -  no change this year and small increases next year. Do you want to know the value of your property? Its probably worth more than you think. Contact me for a free no obligation value update.

Best wishes,

John Goodrum

Licensee Agent REAA 2008

021945140

thelegendofthewest@gmail.com

The number of sales of dwellings including apartments in Waitakere City for August was 284. There were 11 sections sold. The median selling price was $762,000. The average days to sell was 37.

Capital Gains August 2012 – 2017 Median Prices

Green Bay            64.3%

New Lynn             86.7%

Royal Heights     109.2%

The number of sales of homes in Waitakere City for August was 284, this was up from last month. Prices also increased by 3.8% over July prices. These figures reflect increased prices and sales numbers across Auckland as a whole. Sellers are not willing it seems to sell below the prices they saw similar properties to theirs sell for a few months ago. There is little doubt that the shortage of houses is getting worse in Auckland as demand is exceeding the rate of building new ones.

On that basis prices would be expected to rise. Factors likely to hinder price rises however are (1) the tight lending requirements from banks mainly  because of the LVR (loan to value ratio) restrictions imposed by the reserve bank. (2) A change of government as a Labour led government would:

A. Restrict immigration which would reduce demand and slow many sectors of the economy such as hospitality and horticulture which are already short of workers and rely heavily on temporary immigrants / seasonal workers.

B. It is clear that there are not enough construction trades workers and immigration restrictions would prevent more houses been built.

C. Capital gains tax rise on any rental house purchase would mean less buyers for rental properties so prices would be inclined to fall. At the same time a sever shortage of rental properties could ensue. This rental shortage would tend to drive up rents but the government could well put restrictions on rent increases.

D. It looks likely that when a deceased estate property is sold it would not then be classed as a family home and so could be subject to capital gains tax. This is what people are calling an inheritance tax. If that became the case a properties market value would be less. Nothing is certain in life and this is especially true of the 2017 general election.

Do you want to know the value of your property? Its probably worth more than you think. Contact me for a free no obligation value update.

Best wishes,

John Goodrum

Licensee Agent REAA 2008

021945140

thelegendofthewest@gmail.com

The number of sales of dwellings including apartments in Waitakere City for July was 260. There were 8 sections sold. The median selling price was $733,500 and the average days to sell was 33.

Capital Gains July 2012 – 2017 Median Prices

Swanson              50.6%

West Harbour       87.2%

Glen Eden           61.8%

The latest reserve bank announcement on the 10th of August was to leave the OCR (official cash rate) at 1.75%, unchanged since November 2016. The bank indicated there was not much likelihood of a change this year or in 2018. Net migration remains at record levels – 73,000 for June (July figures are not yet available) and the shortage of houses in Auckland continues to grow.

The reserve bank was asked to ease the lending restrictions for first home buyers but shows no sign of doing so and indicated house prices may again  accelerate after the election as they did previously. There is a CPI index calculator on the reserve bank’s website for home price inflation. I brought my first home in Te Atatu South in Q4 1977 for $59,000.

Using the calculator the cost in Q1 2017 would be $1,293,129 which is a 20917.7% increase over 39 1/2 years. That’s a compound increase of 8.2% per year. There is little doubt the current 0% increase for the last 3 months will not remain. One would expect prices to rise after the election, but then we have the reserve bank that will apply the brakes even harder if that does happen to any extent.

Do you want to know the value of your property? Its probably worth more than you think. Contact me for a free no obligation value
update.

Best wishes,

John Goodrum
Licensee Agent REAA 2008
021945140
thelegendofthewest@gmail.com

Welcome to the thirty-third edition of the West Auckland monthly Residential Landlords Newsletter.

I am a landlord myself and have been for over 30 years. I currently own rental properties in South Auckland, the North Shore and of course West Auckland. Being a high preforming Real Estate Agent (top 1% in New Zealand) for over 26 years and always working in West Auckland I know the real estate market and the rental market very well.  

In this and future newsletters I hope to provide ongoing up to date information relevant to landlords who own rental properties in West Auckland.  

Regular features will include: 

• Current sale prices
• Current mortgage rates
• Current rents
• A monthly suburb spotlight review
• A relevant feature article each month

 Source REINZ

Source – J Goodrum – Internet search

 Source NZ Government building & housing 

Source NZ department of statistics 

The Benefits of a Regular Home Inspection

There are very few rental properties in West Auckland with a market value of less than $500,000, that’s half a million dollars! 

Few, if any West Auckland landlords will be driving a car worth $500,000 yet they would consider it foolish not to have their car maintained and serviced on a regular basis, even if it cost 1 / 10^th of the price of their rental property. So why it is that most don’t have a regular professional home maintenance inspection on their much more valuable rental property?  

Beyond cleaning and painting most landlords only fix problems as they arise. At that point the cost to fix could be many times the cost that would have been required to maintain the property before it needed fixing. Let me give you an example. A small rust hole in a roof may mean that water drips into the ceiling over a period of weeks or months until the ceiling falls into the lounge. 

What happened was that the un-noticed water was soaked up by the loft insulation which became heavier and eventually saturated until the gib ceiling became soaked, lost its strength and collapsed into the lounge. The repair cost is now substantial – probably several thousands of dollars. What is now required to repair? 

1. Cleaning up the mess and drying the lounge carpet.
2. Removing the insulation from the loft and paying “tip” fees to dump it.
3. Drying out the loft.
4. Installing a new gib ceiling.
5. Gib stopping and sanding a new ceiling.
6. Gib sealing and painting the new ceiling.
7. Possible light fitting electrical repairs.
8. Installing new loft insulation.
9. Fix the hole in the roof. 

A regular say 5 yearly professional home inspection would pick up such potential problems that could then be maintained at a fraction of the repair cost. The typical cost of a professional home inspection depending on the size of the house would be $400 – $800. That is $80 – $160 per year if done every 5 years. A very good investment that could save thousands, a lot of inconvenience and possible lost rent. For a good home inspector look online at www.nocowboys.co.nz/ and check out the reviews. 

Until next time,
Best wishes,

John Goodrum
Licensee Agent REAA 2008
021945140
thelegendofthewest@gmail.com
09 838 8895

Welcome to the thirty-second edition of the West Auckland monthly Residential Landlords Newsletter.

I am a landlord myself and have been for over 30 years. I currently own rental properties in South Auckland, the North Shore and of course West Auckland. Being a high preforming Real Estate Agent (top 1% in New Zealand) for over 26 years and always working in West Auckland I know the real estate market and the rental market very well.  

In this and future newsletters I hope to provide ongoing up to date information relevant to landlords who own rental properties in West Auckland.  

Regular features will include: 

• Current sale prices
• Current mortgage rates
• Current rents
• A monthly suburb spotlight review
• A relevant feature article each month
  

 Source REINZ

Source – J Goodrum – Internet search

Source NZ Government building & housing

Source NZ department of statistics

 Insurance of Rental Properties

As well as having insurance for the building it is often desirable for a landlord to have landlords insurance. This typically covers such things as loss of rent, intentional or malicious damage, vandalism or theft by a tenant or their guests. It also covers illegal drug use by tenants or their guests causing the need to test for drugs and the cost to decontaminate the property.

Insurance policies do have limits on the amount that will be paid for such events. Typically loss of rent would be 8 weeks (less any rent paid in advance or any bond held). For illegal drug use and decontamination a typical limit would be $30,000. In order to qualify for a claim for many of the above events the landlord must fulfil a number of conditions, such as: 

1. Take care and check references when selecting a tenant.
2. The property must not be empty for longer than 60 days.
3. Have a written legal tenancy agreement.
4. Collect at least 2 weeks bond and register it with tenancy services.
5. Collect at least 2 weeks rent in advance.
6. Keep photographs and a written inspection report at the start of the tenancy.
7. Notify the tenant in writing if the rent becomes 7 days in arrears.
8. Personally deliver a second letter to the tenant when the rent is 14 days in arears.
9. Apply to the tenancy tribunal for a termination order when the rent is 21 days in arears.
10. Inspect the property at the beginning and end of a tenancy.
11. Conduct 3 monthly internal and external inspections on the property and keep written records / photographs. 

Failure to meet the above conditions could invalidate any claim on insurance. For landlords having their properties managed by professional property managers I would strongly suggest emailing them a copy of the insurance conditions and getting a written reply that they will manage your property in such a way that all of these conditions are met. 

For landlords managing their own rentals ensure you follow the conditions of the insurance or do not be surprised if you find your claim rejected. 

Until next time,

Best wishes,

John Goodrum

Licensee Agent REAA 2008
021945140

thelegendofthewest@gmail.com
09 838 8895

The number of sales in June on the Peninsula was 23 and the median selling price was $953,000. The average days to sell was 30. There were 8 sales over $1,000,000. The highest value sale was 57 Kervil Ave at $2,560,000.

6 Street Spotlight

Average Rent for Te Atatu Peninsula: 1st January – 30th June 2017

Did You Know?
The highest value of sales on the Peninsula in the past 10 years was $37,085,500 (29 sales) which was in June 2016 – last year.

Quote of the month:
Top 10 things to do when selling your home, 1# call John Goodrum, I will handle the other 9.

Until next time,

Best wishes,

John Goodrum
021945140
thelegendofthewest@gmail.com

The number of sales in May was 14 and the median selling price was $940,000. The average days to sell was 44. There were 3 sales of $1,000,000 or over. The highest value sale was 10 Celsmere Lane at $1,260,000.

6 Street Spotlight

Average Rent for Te Atatu Peninsula: 1st December 2016 – 31st May 2017

Did You Know?  

The lowest number of sales in a month on the Peninsula in the last 10 years was 7 sales which was in December 2008.

Quote of the month:

I finally figured out how to make a million dollars in the real estate business. You start out with two million dollars…..Real estate agents world-wide.

Until next time,

Best wishes,

John Goodrum

The number of sales of dwellings including apartments in Waitakere City for December was 272. There were 19 sections sold. The median selling price was $760,000. The average days to sell was 33.

Capital Gains December 2011 – 2016 Median Prices

Green Bay                 74.9%

Hobsonville              79.5%

Glen Eden                118.4%

Last year the median price in Waitakere City rose by 13.9% for the calendar year. What will happen to prices in 2017?

There is a lot more uncertainty this year so predictions are harder. The shortage of homes and a growing demand (increase net migration being the largest factor) would suggest continued price increases.

The reserve bank however is doing all it can to stop house price increases and prices have slowed as a result mainly because of the LVR restrictions (loan to value ratio). The median price in Waitakere fell in November and December last year.

Add to this the high probability of mortgage rate increases due to higher overseas borrowing costs and banks will pass on the price increases. Its election year and that alone adds uncertainty and will be a brake on price increases.

These things aside I believe the shortage of houses and the strong demand will still be the deciding factors. I believe prices will increase in 2017 but at a much lower rate than last year. A  5 – 7% increase for the year is my prediction with all estimates out of the window if there is a change of government.

Do you want to know the value of your property? Its probably worth more than you think. Contact me for a free no obligation value update.

Best wishes,

John Goodrum

Licensee Agent REAA 2008

021945140

thelegendofthewest@gmail.com