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.

Fear of missing out (FOMO) is starting to creep back into the property market again.

New research shows seventy per cent of bank and non-bank lenders prefer funding industrial developments above all other property assets.

In an effort to attract independent mortgage advisers to its aggregation platform and other services, The Adviser Platform (TAP) is offering a 50% discount for six months.

If Chris Bishop is appointed Housing Minister in the National-led coalition Government changes are expected to the previous Government’s Residential Property Managers Bill.

Lifting the number of mortgages written by independent advisers will be a top priority for the Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA) when it sets up a New Zealand office in February under a new brand.

Record migration resulting in more people than live in Palmerston North or New Plymouth moving to New Zealand, all needing a place to live at a time when house building has hit a slump and rents are rising is putting pressure on mortgage rates, especially in Auckland.

The downturn in New Zealand’s building sector is deepening, and a sharp decline in building is expected over the year ahead, just as migration reaches all-time highs.

Possible debt-to-income (DTI) ratios could be introduced by the RBNZ mid next year.

CoreLogic’s latest national House Price Index (HPI) shows the national downturn is officially over with a total peak to trough decline of about $138,000 or 13.2% from the record highs of late 2021.

The five biggest New Zealand banks are predicting mortgage defaults as a share of lending could rise to about 1% by early 2025.

Kiwis are now really feeling the pinch amid tight economic conditions and rising interest rates.

Highly-indebted households with large mortgages and little savings buffers face increasing risk of defaulting on their loans, the pre-release of the Reserve Bank’s November Financial Stability Report says.

BNZ chief economist Mike Jones has had a crack at number crunching the cost between building new and buying an existing home and says the $200,000 difference has never been wider.