Property expert Sara Hartigan joined The One Roof Radio Show on The Weekend Collective to share her advice on Rentals. 
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Listen to the audio above as Ashley Church from One Roof speaks to The Weekend Collective.
New Zealand residential construction has reached a 45-year high, running at a pace not seen since 1974.
Statistics NZ said a record number of consents were issued for 37,010 new houses in the year to November 2019, "the highest in a year since the mid-1970s. There were 37,919 new homes consented in the year ended September 1974."
The number of new homes consented has been generally increasing since late 2011, coming off lows in 2009 and 2011 when fewer than 14,000 new homes were consented annually, StatsNZ said.

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"Nationally, 13 per cent more new homes were consented in the November 2019 year compared with a year ago, reaching 14,866 in Auckland, 4176 in Waikato, and 5310 in Canterbury," a statement said.



Consents issued in Canterbury rose 14 per cent. Although this level was below the 2014 peak, it was still higher than the level before earthquake rebuild activities, a statement said.
The Wellington region consented 3036 new homes in the latest year, the highest annual number since over 4000 new homes were consented in the mid-1970s.
Consents were issued in November for 3203 new dwellings of which 1980 were stand-alone houses, 722 were townhouses, flats and units, 291 were apartments and 211 were retirement village units.
The value of non-residential building consents for the November 2019 year was $7.4 billion, up 4.9 per cent from the November 2018 year. That $7.4b included $1b in education buildings, $1b in shops, restaurants and bars and $981m in offices, administration and public transport buildings.
To cope with the rise in house construction levels, Fletcher Building late last year opened a house-building factory in Auckland. That business plans to build more than 1000 new homes annually.

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Imagine that the housing and transport initiatives of the major political parties over the past five years could be represented as one big celebration taking place on a single night. The early part of the evening would be represented by the last couple of years of the previous National Government with people everywhere, loud music, and everyone up and dancing – and now, under the Coalition, it’s 3am in the morning, the music has stopped, most of the revellers have gone home, and apart from a few people sitting around talking and crying into their glasses, not much is happening.
Whatever you might think of National under John Key – his Government had a clear focus on roading and infrastructure and kicked off a social housing program which is continuing to deliver new dwellings two years after the Nats left office - so it should come as no surprise that some of Nationals proposed new policy is a repeat of what made their last ‘party’ so successful.
But is it enough to "fix" the housing market?
In my view the answer is no – but it will still be a big improvement on what we have right now.


The proposed policies (which actually take the form of two companion discussion documents – one dealing with housing and the other with roading and infrastructure) contain some innovative and bold new ideas and are notable for the sheer volume of ideas being proposed. There isn’t space to cover them all – but there are a few which demonstrate that the Nats have listened and that they understand some of the key market issues and what it will take to fix them. These include:
Supporting Home Ownership
Make no mistake – getting as many kiwis as possible into their own home is the key to resolving our housing issues. A strong culture of Home ownership strengthens the fabric of society, reduces poverty and gives people choices that they simply wouldn’t otherwise have. The National discussion document acknowledges this and outlines some ideas around helping State tenants to buy their home – an obvious place to start because the Government already owns these properties and can therefore set the terms of any ‘rent-to-buy’ type schemes.
Reforming State Housing (again)
The Coalitions ridiculous decision to make it almost impossible to evict bad State House tenants is an example of the kind of woolly thinking which leads to a slew of unintended consequences and destroys communities. The Nats have recognised this and are proposing a range of reforms including a ‘Remind, Remedy and Remove’ system for bad tenants so that there are consequences for anti-social behaviours such as violence and drug use. They’re also proposing underwriting some of the financial risks facing Community Housing Providers, transferring the management of some State housing to these providers and potentially splitting the Building and Property Management functions of Housing NZ – possibly into different agencies. This is all sensible stuff which would significantly improve the effectiveness of the state housing sector.
Resolving Homelessness
Anyone who has researched the issue of homelessness in New Zealand understands that it isn’t the result of poverty or some imagined shortage of houses – but rather, is largely caused by a complex mix of physical and mental health challenges. The Nat discussion paper also appears to get this and supports remedies which not only give the homeless somewhere to call ‘home’ – but also address their social, medical, physical, spiritual and emotional needs.
The are many other worthy proposals, such as these – but, for me, the discussion document is equally notable for what it doesn’t mention. For example, there are no specific proposals around doing anything to constrain house prices or curb house price inflation. This is important because every attempt to do this, over the past few years, has failed and it’s now obvious that the best way to address house prices is to let each cycle run...

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Want to get into some DIY this weekend? Newstalk ZB “Resident Builder” Peter Wolfkamp joins The OneRoof Radio Show to share his knowledge.
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People who want to withdraw from a housing deal due to being declined finance will from the end of this week have to prove they are unable to get the money.
Now, if a finance condition is inserted but money can't be obtained, people's word is generally enough for them to pull out of a contract
Property expert Sara Hartigan joined The One Roof Radio Show on The Weekend Collective to share her advice on the issue.
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Its official – LVR mortgage restrictions are here to stay and there will be no change to their current settings.
Property Commentator Ashley Church says in making this decision, the Reserve Bank is compounding what he believes to be the most profoundly stupid monetary policy to have been introduced in the past 40 years.
He joined The One Roof Radio Show to discuss further.
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Kris Faafoi, Associate Minister Housing for Public Housing, has announced one of the biggest changes to the Residential Tenancies Act since it was passed in 1986.
Property expert Sara Hartigan joined The One Roof Radio Show on The Weekend Collective to share his advice on the changes and how they might affect you.
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Buying a bare patch of land to build a house on can be a stressful decision, with countless unseen circumstances to be dealt with.
The process can daunting, but to help prospective purchasers, Pete Wolfkamp joined The One Roof Radio Show on The Weekend Collective to share his expert advice!
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Can swimming pools give listed homes an edge when it comes to landing a buyer? And what do buyers want when it comes to home with a pool?
Property expert and mortgage advisor from the Umbrella Company Sara Hartigan joined The One Roof Radio Show on The Weekend Collective to share her thoughts!
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When you’ve left the nest for good and you’re parents are all alone in a big house with too many possessions, it’s time for them to start thinking about downsizing. 
Leonie Freeman, CEO of the Property Council joined The One Roof Radio Show on The Weekend Collective to share her advice!
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