What housing crisis?

There has been a high level of publicity regarding housing affordability in New Zealand, with a general consensus that we are in crisis and that something needs to be done. However a look at the facts does not bear this out.
15-10-2013 more >>

Property investors to blame for price increases?

Property Investors have long been blamed for property price increases and making it harder for first home buyers to achieve their first home.
15-08-2013 more >>

Rental Property Warrant of Fitness

An unfortunate aspect of this year’s Government Budget was the announcement that a rental property Warrant of Fitness was to be introduced for State Houses. There was also a strong indication that it would eventually be introduced to private rental properties.
01-07-2013 more >>

June '13 President's Report

Latest market statistics from the REINZ show that while median house prices have increased over the last year, 90% of the increase came from Auckland and Canterbury, with most of the increase coming from Auckland. These two areas accounted for just over half of all property sales in New Zealand.
01-06-2013 more >>

Tenancy Tribunal Issues

A few weeks ago I had a meeting in Central Auckland and parked in a commercially owned Pay-And-Display carpark. The meeting was expected to last half an hour so as you could only buy time in Half Hour lots of $5, I paid for one hour to account for time to get to the appointment.
01-05-2013 more >>

Nick Smith to look at Warrants of Fitness for Rental Property

Following a recommendation by the Childrens' Commissioner, New Minister of Housing, Nick Smith, has requested that his officials look into the feasibility of a Warrant of Fitness for rental property.
01-04-2013 more >>

Can any worker can own a home?

After last months article on housing affordability, where I looked at reasons why we do not have a housing crisis, I started to wonder if in fact anyone who was employed could own a home.
01-03-2013 more >>

Housing affordability myth

The housing market is continuing to take a battering from well intentioned but misinformed lobby groups and political parties concerned about house prices. Facts do not back up their beliefs however.
01-02-2013 more >>

Jan 2013 President's Report

The Waikato Property Investors’ Association and indeed the New Zealand rental industry lost a real asset with the passing of Brian Hancock shortly after the Waikato Conference last year.
01-01-2013 more >>

NZPIF 2012 Roundup

This has been quite a year for the Rental Property industry. Since 2008, the NZPIF has been saying that the housing market is likely to be quiet until 2012 and this seems to have been a fairly accurate prediction. While it is certainly early day’s, the housing market is now nearing boom like increases in some parts of the country and is likely to move in other parts soon.
01-12-2012 more >>

NZPIF Conference '12 Report

This years NZPIF conference in Hamilton was another major success. Attendees experienced a full weekend of devouring property related information plus sharing war and successes stories with other attendees. The mood was buoyant with many attendees looking to take advantage of market conditions.
01-11-2012 more >>

NZPIF rejects call for Rental Property WOF

The Childrens’ Commissioner established the grandly titled “Experts Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty” in March this year. This group has recently produced its first report which included a number of proposals that the group claimed were “ambitious, but they are also realistic, cost-effective, based on evidence, and take into account New Zealand's economic and fiscal context”.
01-10-2012 more >>

Insulation survey

The NZ Property Investors’ Federation needs to gain more information on rental property insulation for both lobbying purposes and obtaining discounts for members.
01-09-2012 more >>

High vacancy rates may limit rent growth

Rental prices in New Zealand have grown well over the past few years, however this growth has slowed through this years winter months. The median rental price grew from $330 in January this year to $340 in May, but fell in July to $320.
01-09-2012 more >>

If it aint broke, don’t fix it

Presidents Report: The opposition Labour Party have recently accused landlords of ripping off tenants who receive the accommodation supplement (AS).
01-08-2012 more >>

Rental Property back on top

Presidents Report: The latest quarterly investor confidence survey from ASB Bank confirmed that rental property is again the top investment that people felt would give them the best return. This is the first time that rental property has been at the top of the list for over two years.
01-07-2012 more >>

Be careful who you trust

There are many indicators pointing to an improving property market. The economy is doing well, affordability is back to levels last seen 10 years ago, Interest rates are predicted to stay low for longer, demand is increasing yet new building consents are still quite low.
01-06-2012 more >>

NZPIF Survey shows long wait for Tribunal

The announcement that the Department of Building and Housing (DBH) was to be moved into the new “Super” Ministry came as a shock to the industry last month. DBH had already been restructured for “efficiencies” and the general perception from all industry participants was that the service level had fallen dramatically.
01-05-2012 more >>

Professionalism and Profitability

Having recently re-let a rental property, some of the comments from prospective tenants made me think about the service level of some rental property providers. Our rental was a nice place in nice condition and somewhere I would happily live. But it was by no means a mansion. It had not been renovated or improved for some time and we had just provided some basic extra cleaning in addition to the previous tenant’s efforts.
01-04-2012 more >>

Should you be putting your rents up?

There has been quite a bit of media attention on increasing rental prices recently. This is a common occurrence at this time of the year, as many people are change their circumstances in the new year and University Students are coming back at the start of the new academic year. But does that mean we can all put our prices up?
01-03-2012 more >>

Clear thinking from Productivity Commission

The New Zealand Productivity Commission as an independent Crown Entity established by the Government in December 2010. The Commissions purpose is to help the Government improve laws and regulations that guide and incentivise how individuals, businesses and other organisations make their decisions.
01-02-2012 more >>

What are you going to do this year?

The start of a new year is an excellent opportunity to examine your rental property, look at the investment environment and make some plans for what you want to achieve over the coming year. By the time you read this, hopefully you will still be on your Christmas break and will have some time to have a good think about what you are doing with your property, free from work or business commitments.
01-01-2012 more >>

Tenancy Tribunal Hearing Delays

A common problem that I have been hearing for most of this year is how long it takes to get a Tenancy Tribunal hearing. I know from recent personal experience how frustrating it is to have a tenant living in your property and refusing to pay rent. You feel powerless as you wait for the hearing date to finally arrive.
01-11-2011 more >>

The Politics of envy

The NZPIF has had two meetings this year with senior Labour Ministers. At both these meetings we asked about Labour's housing policy and if any new taxes were being considered. We were told that a land and capital gains tax had been looked at, to pay for extra planned spending, but there were problems with both and would not be part of their policy.
01-08-2011 more >>

July Presidents report

Last month the NZPIF held a communication meeting in Wellington for all affiliated Property Investor Associations around the country. This is an annual event and a marvellous opportunity the us to tell the PIA’s what we are doing, hear what they would like us to do and also share information among themselves on how to make their associations better for their members.
01-07-2011 more >>