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 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

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