An interesting article in view of the continuing slow down in NZ house sales.
Housing Crash Is Hitting Cities Once Thought to Be Stable
The rolling real estate crash that ravaged Florida and the Southwest is delivering a new wave of distress to communities once thought to be immune — economically diversified cities where the boom was relatively restrained. In the last year, home prices in Seattle had a bigger decline than in Las Vegas. Minneapolis dropped more than Miami, and Atlanta fared worse than Phoenix.
“When I go out and talk to people around town, they say, ‘Wow, I thought we were going to have a 12 percent correction and call it a day,’ ” said Stan Humphries, chief economist for the housing site Zillow, which is based in Seattle. “But this thing just keeps on going.” Seattle is down about 31 percent from its mid-2007 peak and, according to Zillow’s calculations, still has as much as 10 percent to fall.
Arne Klubberud and Melissa Lee-Klubberud paid $358,000 for a new, 960-square-foot townhouse on trendy Capitol Hill in2006. Now, with one child and with hopes for more, they need more space. They just put the townhouse on the market for $300,000.
Megan and Ryan Dortch tried to sell their one-bedroom Eastlake condo for $325,000 two years ago. They rejected an offer of $295,000 as inadequate. A year later, they relisted it for $289,000, then $279,000, which was less than they paid.
Without a sale at that price, they could not afford to buy a place big enough for them and their new baby. They have given up on real estate. They are renting out their old apartment at a small loss every month, and living in a rented house.
TrueblueNZ 
18 responses to “General Debate 16/02/11”
The NZ MSM, and Bernard Hickey in particular, continue to talk down the house prices. There is such a shortage of rental property in Auckland at the moment that soon those who have waited in hope to buy cheaply will have to start buying………..and then the cycle will start again and it will become a sellars market.
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Did anyone else notice the annoucnement from Comrade Dictator Putin..?
$678 Billion on Russian Defence over the next 10 years, with the majority going to the Pacific fleet – 20 new ships for the Pacific fleet including a new carrier…
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Yep, and China doing something similar while Obama cuts the US back, and Cameron cuts the UK back, and fires all its trainee pilots.
Bankrupt countries can’t defend themselves. Why are countries bankrupt? Because of socialism, and bankruptcy was always a part of that socialist plan.
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Bernard Hickey is an idiot. He thinks he knows the markets & economics but he is an illiterate. The sooner he shuts his mouth, the better so people won’t following his bullshit opinions.
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Mr Fisi, this is a genuine question (because Hickey *is* illiterate, and he’s one of the better ones!). If I have some small amount of funds to invest in NZ, what form should the investment take? The amount involved is not sufficient to purchase property (not that I would anyway, given how over-priced property is), but by the same token I’m not seeing anything in the share market that would make me want to put it there either.
Apart from property, is there any investment vehicle in NZ that will give better returns than inflation, or any return at all?
In Australia, I’m hooked up with the Australian Small Cap Investigator which focuses on small stocks the big brokers ignore, and I’m doing quite nicely out of it (some wins, some losses, but returns of +50-ish percent overall).
Appreciate the benefit of your wisdom.
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You could always buy shares in that oil company reported to have possibly/probably found a good oil discovery around Taranaki somewhere.
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Gant Guy
If you’re getting 50% + ,you should be giving the advice ,not asking for it. 🙂
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Not me, kowtow, I’m hooked up with these guys:
http://www.portphillippublishing.com.au/research/ASI/m1asiwges.php?code=W9AAM103&o=274987&s=277757&u=52479324&l=216287&g=18&r=Milo
I buy when they say buy, I sell when they say sell and I’m doing OK from it. That said, I’m strictly small potatoes (trades of <$1,000).
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APN are issuing 1 year corporate bonds at 8% from memory… That should be pretty safe…
Apart from bonds, i.e. shares, value invest…
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Are you getting 50% per annum..? Or 50% since you first invested..?
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I’m up by that much in about 18 months Jeremy, but again I only have a tiny amount in the market (I can’t afford to risk a lot – yet).
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Still great stuff – 33% pa ROI…
Buffett has averaged 23% over his professional life…
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Yep doing well do far, but I’m only playing with tiny amounts that I can afford to lose. I’d like to get to a point where I can play with $100K+ at any one time, but I’m only a newcomer to the market and it’s strictly an alternative to the pokie machines at this point!
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Investing is far more fun than the pokies (not a gambler)… I’m about to turn 28 and have been at it a few years now, analysing the companies yourself and buying individual shares is the most exciting…
I like US shares and find the fact that I own parts (admittedly unbelievably small parts) of some of the biggest companies in the world amazing and it gets easier with each purchase…
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Thanks for the advice everyone. Red, the oil company sounds intriguing. I’ll do some research and if it plays out put some if it in there. That can be my Social Conscience / Fuck The Warmists investment 🙂
Goofy at $0.21 also sounds good. There’s no way the polls are going to stay where they are now, especially with the Nats doing everything they can to give the election away.
With the profits, I can buy a couple of glocks and go see Murray from hittingmetalwithhammer and get him to knock me up a couple of trebuchets! Be Prepared my old scout master always used to say.
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Red, from the comments you have made here and at KB over the years you seem to be involved in the oil/mining industry in some capacity, and my question is:
Do you think NZOG shares are undervalued at the moment? I am thinking of buying some. 87c each seems like a steal.
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One of my personal rules is never give financial advice. Not unless you’re 100% sure. 🙂
They took a big hit at Pike River for sure but they’ve got good cash flows so they should be OK eventually. It sure does seem like a steal and you would think it would be hard to go wrong at that price. Lot of new people there so I can’t help you with any inside info. 🙂
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Haha no worries.
Thinking of picking some up for sure. Although it might pay to ride it out and learn a bit more about National’s confused mining policies.
I would have probably brought some already if they hadn’t capitulated to the opposition to mining from hippies, Outrageous Fortune actors and other C-list celebrities.
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