Increasing constraints, including the cost and availability of credit, have meant a major slowdown in the apartment market. Consents dropped by 36% in the year to October – the lowest total since July 2017.

The market has been relatively subdued over the past 12-18 months, alongside the downturn in sales volumes and property prices.

Loan Market mortgage adviser Bruce Patten says the Reserve Bank is posturing when it says it might raise the OCR again next year if inflation is not under control.

A woman who left a rented Manurewa, Auckland property she shared with her partner after discovering he was using methamphetamine is still liable for a half share of Tenancy Tribunal awarded exemplary damages and other debts owed to the landlord.

Alongside increased credit demand, mortgage arrears are up 25% year-on-year as households across the country continue to roll from low to high fixed interest rates.

A big year is ahead for the property management industry.

Economist Tony Alexander doesn’t believe the RBNZ will keep the OCR at 5.50% or higher through to the middle of 2025, even though the central bank is forecasting a possible further hike next year.

The Residential Property Managers Association (RPMA) wants a completely new property managers bill and is hoping to meet with Housing Minister Chris Bishop shortly to get work underway.

It is not decided whether the Commerce Commission’s banking market study will cease now that the National Party’s coalition agreement with New Zealand First commits it to a separate select committee banking inquiry.

If ever there was a law designed to do good but in need of a rewrite, it is the CCCFA.

ANZ is predicting house prices to fall 0.4% over the rest of the year, versus the 0.2% rise it had previously forecast.

Despite a recent rise in loan applications, Christchurch-based Gold Band Finance is seeing people committed to buying investment properties they probably no longer want.

Christchurch-based non-bank deposit taker Gold Band Finance is the first to get an FMA Financial Institution Licence.

Financial markets are pricing in an aggressive easing of almost three OCR cuts next year – a quantum leap from the RBNZ’s previous forecasts of no cut until the first quarter of 2025.

Almost 119,000 people entered New Zealand over the 12 months to the end of September – the  biggest population gain through migration for any one year.

As the Reserve Bank gears up to start public consultation at the beginning of near year on debt-to-income (DTI) levels, its latest quarterly DTI figures show In September, $1.6 billion, or 31.1% of $5.2 billion of new mortgage lending was at a DTI of 5.