Falling house prices mean housing affordability is improving, says the ANZ bank in its latest Property Focus.

The market continued to go through the motions of a correction in December, with rising mortgage rates exacting a toll.

Households’ finances are being squeezed as high levels of inflation erode spending power, borrowing costs rise and families see the value of their assets tumble.

The past few years have been bumpy, with one event after the other challenging the economy, businesses, and the way we work.

The country’s biggest trading bank expects the official cash rate to now peak at 5.75% later this year.

A recent newspaper article revealing the Tenancy Tribunal had ordered a landlord to lower the rent on their property is worrying evidence of unnecessary interference and must be stopped, says Salesh Chand, a partner at property accountancy firm GRA.

Building cost inflation has hit a record annual high of 10.4%, the first double digit annual figure since the index was launched 10 years ago.

The removal of mortgage interest as a tax deductible expense for property investors with older existing property is already starting to affect rental property.

The year ended on a troubling note for Auckland’s biggest real estate agency Barfoot & Thompson selling 37% fewer homes during the year than 2021 and the average number of homes sold each month at 706 was its lowest 12 years.

House prices in more than 90% of Auckland’s suburbs have dropped.

ASB has revised its house price prediction to a total fall of 25%. That’s a sizable price fall, and in inflation-adjusted terms it is nearly as large as the 1974-1980 slump.

Economist Tony Alexander has been warning about a widespread weeding out of businesses in the residential building sector since early-2021 but says he did not expect that it would take until now for the pullback in activity to really get underway.

CoreLogic, like many others, says it underestimated how deep the downturn in sales volumes would become and also how far house prices would fall this year.

Sales of residential properties across the country have sunk to a 12 year as the number of properties on the market soar.

Average asking prices for property across New Zealand are down $68,350 from record highs in March, the latest Trade Me Property Price index shows.

House values across the country fell further from January to November than they have in more than 15 years.