Proud Kiwi with Great Cause
The advent of the long awaited world cup brought with it the utterly excellent opening ceremony, it was glorious and I was moved to feel huge pride, in my country, my people and in the life we take for granted. The outstanding day that was Saturday showcased the commonplace beauty of NZ; an everyday beauty we take for granted. Listen to the visitors as they comment in awe, makes me wonder why as a people we are so preoccupied with the a glass-half-full filter.
I found the following info interesting from Tony Alexander.
“We often think that our situation in New Zealand is not that good. But when one thinks about the woe overseas we look like a paradise.”
“We are always debating the state of the economy and many people may well have the impression that New Zealand is a deeply troubled place. ………thought NZ was in the same category as Greece and Portugal .”
“The NZ government has a debt to GDP ratio of only 38% compared with 150% in Greece and rates such as near 100% in the US, 120% in Italy, and near 85% for the Eurozone on average. “
“This week there were no riots in New Zealand. No shops were looted and no police formed skirmish lines against loutish mobs. This week we saw no panicked expression of concern in the financial markets regarding the state of our government finances, the lending books or our banks, their capital bases, or even their ability to rollover maturing loans in foreign markets.”
Read the entire Perspective at:
http://tonyalexander.co.nz/regular-publications/newspaper-column/some-perspective/
Cause for thought at a time when we are achieving near record prices for our exports, and life is actually progressing as per usual, the economy is moving ahead progressively, albeit slowly.
Auckland continues a strong showing in the Real Estate field, a little graph makes for easy understanding:-
Pretty clear to see the pattern, I do understand that the Christchurch recovery is now well under way but Auckland is the only major city to see the ’07 peak eclipsed; probably not true of every suburb, definitely lead by the inner city suburbs.
Activity in the Eastern Beaches area sees sales up on July at 173, median much the same but with a shortened median days to sell. Multiple offers on the less expensive properties are almost the norm. A bank officer relayed to me that pre-approved purchaser levels in his organisation were at an all time record high and I am sure the same would be true of all the banks. The table below shows the statistics for the year so far.
| Month | No. of Sales | Median Sale Price | Median Days Sell |
| April 2011 | 174 | $547,000 | 40 |
| May 2011 | 187 | $561,000 | 37 |
| June 2011 | 189 | $565,000 | 31 |
| July 2011 | 143 | $571,000 | 34 |
| Aug 2011 | 173 | $568,588 | 28 |
Not so bad is it? Clearly there are some major obstacles ahead, I am sure we will not escape the state of America and its economy or the situation with the EU and Europe but I am equally sure we will find a way to flourish and prosper. So many of the sales taking place are to first home buyers and others new to the market, I find that very positive, a statement of hope and belief in a future.
As a completely jaundiced Real Estate person with an utter faith in the future of property I am pleased to see the solidity that property continues to demonstrate as a safe haven for investment, any well balanced portfolio should contain some property and I am more than happy to prove a case.
At lunch today one of the folk had just returned from a quick jaunt Ireland and Spain, two of the PIIGS basket cases, upside down economies of the region; he was amazed to find them to be ‘standing room only’, choc -a-block with folk spending up large and fully enjoying their gift of life. Life is in the business of going on.
Tony A is right, we are in no way in dire straits, we have a fabulous country and every reason to look to our futures with confidence and hope.
September 15 2011 | Uncategorized | No Comments »