OPINION: Here we go again, hang on if you can, keep up if you will, and first home buyers, quick, catch us if you can.
Call the fire service, the housing market is on fire. Record prices and quick sales, put it down to two things: record low interest rates and record low interest rates.
It's close to free money. Never before has it been so attractive to buy a house if you have equity or a deposit. Servicing even a whopper-sized mortgage is suddenly achievable and many are doing it in a canter.
No matter what the Government does or says, it can't affect the market to any great effect.
That is left to the Reserve Bank, who have dropped interest rates to such record lows and seen almost panic buying amongst Kiwis and once again prices have skyrocketed.
So, I like the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand's (REINZ) call to rework the various Government first home buyer grants.
They are now of little value because the houses are that much more expensive. The settings must change. The policy has been surpassed by the market.
First home buyers have been all but shut out in recent years. The LVRs, or in other words, the need for a bigger deposit, dashed their hopes and dreams last time and any move the Reserve Bank makes to bring them back must surely be for investors only.
First home buyers must not feel shut out of their country.
Duncan Garner hosts The AM Show.
