In this episode, we give you an update on how Airbnbs are faring under the current market conditions. 

Since the last update, we gave 6 months ago, 10,000 Airbnbs have come off the market (20% of the stock). However, bookings have increased ... and are at the level where the number of bookings per Airbnb per week are on par with earlier in February.

We also mention our property investor quiz. After just 7 questions, you'll get a 'yes', 'no', or 'maybe' answer about whether you're in the position to invest in your first rental property.

In this episode, we discuss the recent survey results that Tony Alexander has published which shows how property values are currently feeling about the New Zealand property market.

We discuss why the opinions and outlook of values matter, and how they currently view of New Zealand's main centres – Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown.

We also mention our property investor quiz, which after just 7 questions will give you a 'yes', 'no', or 'maybe' answer about whether you are in the position to invest in property.

In this episode, we discuss Rent to Buy schemes and how they have the potential to benefit and harm both the vendor and the potential purchaser.

In a Rent to Buy property-purchasing structure, a vendor will agree to sell a purchaser a property for today's price, but the purchaser does not have to pay for the property for a number of years (e.g. 5 years). Over that time, the purchaser will pay market rent to the vendor, plus an additional amount, which counts as part of the deposit. 

The benefit to the vendor is that they will usually sell the property with a margin (i.e. it won't really be the market rate on today's market). And if the purchaser decides not to settle, the vendor gets to keep the additional rent. 

That can make rent to buy schemes incredibly risky for purchasers, especially lower income purchasers who would typically be targeted by these schemes.

We also mention our property investor quiz, which after answering 7 basic questions will give you a yes, no or maybe answer about whether you are in the position to invest.  

In this episode, we discuss and recap our recent webinar: How to Find the Most Profitable Areas to Invest in. Within this webinar we looked at the distribution of yields and historic capital growth rates within suburbs located in the four main centres: Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton and Wellington. 

As part of this webinar, we also created eight new maps – 2 for each of the four main centres. These maps show the capital growth rates and yields for each suburb so you can use them to find the most profitable areas to invest in.

Click here to watch the full webinar replay.

In this episode, we discuss the concept of overcapitalisation, what it is and how you can avoid it. In simple terms, overcapitalisation is where you spend more money to renovate a property, but you get less out of the property than what you've spent.

This applies to any dollar that you've spent on a property and not seen a return on that dollar (that is anywhere, where you have spent a dollar and not seen your property increase in value by a dollar).

We also mention our property investor quiz, this is where you can answer 7 quick questions and you'll get an instant 'yes', 'no' or 'maybe' answer about whether you are in the position to invest or not just yet. 

In this episode, we reveal real aggregated data from the retirement plans of Opes Partners clients. This gives you the chance to peer behind the curtain and get a sense of how other Kiwis are planning for retirement. 

Key figures include:

We also mention our upcoming property investment webinar, which is happening tonight at 7pm. If you are keen to attend, then click here. Or, click here to watch the replay (once it's live)

In this episode, we discuss the BNZ's recently announced changes to its lending policy. These policies govern how much the retail bank is willing to lend on different property types. 

Most interesting for property investors, the bank will only lend a maximum of 70% of a property's value for any investment property. This includes any properties that would have been exempt under the previous LVR rules, like new builds and the dollar for dollar exemption. This will make it more expensive and challenging for investors to purchase a property if using BNZ. 

Similarly, any flatmate and boarder income is not being used to calculate a borrower's servicing ability. That means that marginal borrowers who needed additional income to pass the bank's lending tests will now struggle to meet the minimum requirements. 

We wrap up the episode by discussing our upcoming property investment webinar. You can sign up to attend by clicking the link above.

In this episode, we discuss how the property market is operating now that the country has come out of lockdown. This stems from a recent article Andrew provided comment for in The Press and for Stuff.co.nz (read the article here).

We are seeing pent up demand coming onto the market, which likely stems from: a) the property market not being able to function during lockdown. 8 weeks worth of demand is now hitting the market in one week. b) potential property buyers have had time to research the market during the lockdown, which is providing renewed interest. TradeMe property, for instance, has reported a 38% increase in property searches from 18-29 year olds. 

We also mention our upcoming property investment webinar, where Andrew will cover what he's learnt from owning 38 investment properties and how he manages to make sure that they are all performing for him. That is happening this coming Tuesday at 7pm. Click the link in this paragraph to register.

In this episode, we discuss how the property market performed during the Coronavirus-induced lockdown. This is based on data recently released by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand. 

As predicted, volumes massively dropped during April 2020, down just under 79% year on year. However that decrease is not spread evenly, Auckland's volumes, decreased just under 69% year on year. That is in part the reason why the median house price continued to rise to a record price of $680,000.

We also mention that we have our final weekly property investment webinar is happening this Tuesday at 7pm. This week Andrew will talk about how he manages his property investment portfolio, which at its peak had 38 properties within it.

In this episode, we discuss inequality and the difference between how different suburbs appreciate in value. Even if different suburbs appreciate at the same rate, if there were small differences in their initial starting values, one suburb can become more expensive than others within the same city. 

This means that homeowners in one suburb can see their wealth increase at a much faster rate than homeowners in a neighbouring (slower growth) suburb. 

We also discuss the inequality within investing between men and women, along with what we are doing to try to change the status quo.

Finally, we discuss our upcoming property investment webinar, which you are most welcome to attend, next Tuesday at 7pm.