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There is a narrative doing the rounds in New Zealand politics at the moment that property investment is a "cancer" on the economy.The argument goes like this: every dollar that goes into residential property is a dollar that should have gone into a "productive" business...

On 12 May I hosted a Frank Discusson about the Property Market webinar with Kris Pedersen (founder of KPM Mortgages), and Than Sundar (experienced property trader and developer). Over the session, we covered interest rates, bank lending, risk management, and where the market is actually..

With a cyclone potentially bearing down on the North Island of New Zealand, now is not the time to be wondering whether your insurance cover is enough. It's time to know.Most of us dutifully pay our insurance premiums each year, renew without a second glance,..

Over recent months we’ve seen banks offering some unusually generous cashback incentives for new lending and refinancing. While these offers were short-lived (and are discussed further below), they serve as a useful reminder that lenders remain competitive and will work hard to attract new business,..

In spite of the opinions of the previous government and some of the public, property investors, whether large-scale landlords or “mum and dad” investors, are actually important contributors to New Zealand’s economy. Every investment property purchased sets off a chain reaction of economic activity: banks issue..

In 2024, GRA formed a not-for-profit property advocacy group, Subdivision Advocacy NZ (SANZ), with Kirsty Merriman (developer) and Simon Oconner (town planner). We formed this in reaction to some astonishingly concerning behaviours from Auckland Council, Vector, Veolia and Watercare. The most well-known include the surprise..

We got a good result this month, pushing back on Auckland Council's egregious development contributions charges which were proposed last year.I, along with Kirsty Merriman (developer), Simon O'Connor from Sentinel Planning, and the team at SANZ (www.sanz.nz, which Kirsty and I lead as a non-profit..

Development contributions are proposed to increase in Auckland to frankly non-viable levels from a development perspective, especially for affordable or middle-end houses. The following graphic shows before and after the proposed costs.Auckland Council asserts that development fees have no impact on house prices, claiming that..

•Exorbitant development contributions proposed•Disconnect between Council and developers in Auckland•Red zones emerging for sewer and fresh water making sites non-developable•Abuse of monopolies by local government and utility providers•Concern this will spread across New Zealand to other councilsI have noticed many of our property developer clients..