Nationally, median house prices in March were 24 per cent more than a year ago. The number of homes sold in Canterbury was 33 per cent higher than the previous March, part of which was affected by the Covid lockdown. Last month was the busiest March for real estate sales in the region for 17 years. Commentators are still forecasting the housing market to slow as changes to tax and borrowing rules announced last month take effect.
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For many, an affordable home is an unattainable dream, forcing tens of thousands onto the social housing waitlist. (First published October 2020) Housing market analyst CoreLogic has described levels of investment buying in New Zealand as at a “sustained peak”, with investors making up almost three in 10 buyers nationally for three months in a row.
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The bright-line test has been doubled in length and tax loopholes have been closed as the Labour Government moves on property speculators.
Demand among home buyers remains strong in Christchurch despite looming tax changes, with price growth easing in the wake of efforts to take pressure off the booming market. Landlords were caught off guard last week when the Government announced it would remove tax deductions for mortgage interest on rental properties, and double the period before a resale triggers the “brightline” tax on a capital gain. Newly built properties are exempt from the changes. Quotable Value’s (QV) area manager for Canterbury, Kris Rodgers, said price growth was slowing and the Government’s announcement could potentially help to cool the market further in coming months.
According to CoreLogic, Scarborough’s median value was the highest in January 2021 at $1,277,800. It was closely followed by Kennedys Bush at $1,249,350. At the other end of the scale was Sumner with a median value of $802,650 and Mount Pleasant at $808,050. CoreLogic senior property economist Kelvin Davidson says the hill suburbs had much that made them appealing, in particular sweeping views of the city and the plains, and, in some, proximity to the beach. While some, like Sumner, Redcliffs and Scarborough, were hit hard by the earthquakes in 2010 and 2011, most areas were largely fixed up now and their history was not a deterrent, he said.
Whangarei Falls was preserved under the Scenery Preservation Act.
How did some of NZ s most scenic spots win protection from development? WILL HARVIE takes a look at the history of government-funded efforts to protect some of our beautiful landscapes. As gigs go, being appointed to the Scenery Preservation Commission in 1904 sounds pretty good. They were given expense accounts and ordered to visit all parts of Aotearoa New Zealand to find naturally beautiful places. The commissioners then bought these places (or tried to) and preserved them for all time. The five men who got this gig indeed identified and bought beautiful places – 61 of them totalling almost 5900 hectares.