What do you think veedub, a massive rating agency downgrade is approaching in my opinion? AA+ down to BBB-! Junk status.

Wally, You could be right. For a country that has a ratio of 2.5 on some sort of social welfare against 1.5 supporting them, something has to give. I remember reading a while ago of an old Maori chief saying that when Labour introduced Social welfare in 1939 or whenever it was he said something like, "Thanks for nothing, you have just ruined my people" Wise man! Someone may have the Chiefs name and the correct quote. Cheers

President of Property: thats rather mean and un-called for IMHO. Opportuntiy of a lifetime? no...I dont think anyone who is worth their salt is sitting there stating with a high degree of confidence what next month, the next 3 or the next 6 will bring for the world's economies and in turn the housing market(s).

I agree with Bernard, the fundimental is housing is over-valued compared to wages.....looking at the rest of the world that ratio holds up well.....so to me there is a risk to NZ's housing sector, a further drop might never happen or it might....right now its a gamble....so you are laying into Bernard based on a maybe successful short term punt? be serious. Anyway the race isnt run yet, 18 to 24 months from now we might well be able to say it was an opportunity lost, or we might be saying it was a dead cat bounce which will have stung ppl.

I have ppl and friends in the UK, and they are hurting and in neg equity far worse than here, its going to take them years to get out of it and its causing huge stress, if the same happens here its going to be dismal.

regards

So wait, you're telling me:

- property goes up - time to buy
- property goes down - time to buy
- affordability gets worse - time to buy
- affordability gets better - time to buy

I guess property must be "special". It's the only way to create a bubble.

steven, I suspect such cuts are exactly what the govt is planning. It would explain Key's abrupt "NO" over the dole question. He usually elaborates!!! "it simply would have happened" well maybe, but I think the crisis is deepening.
"so why do you think it?"
Because this economy is on a knife edge of debt and the fiscal situation points to it getting much worse. Why else would Fitch put its head on the block? The banks that we have been told are propping up the economy, now face a 2 billion dollar debt. The rating agencies race to say all is ok. Yeah sure. To my thinking the govt has decided that any move they make could trigger problems for the banks, ie a property collapse on residential rural and commercial, which would bring the instant downgrade and drive up the fiscal borrowing costs. So they sit on their hands and do nothing. Meanwhile the banks are hell bent on expanding the bubble.

Bolocks the lot.
you all need to do the crash course and then start and think more strategically.

the banks are not hellbent on starting the bubble again. they are simply hogtied to mortgage lending -they have no alternative way of getting the same vast incomes to meet shareholder demands, that carries a low enough risk for the dollar return. a capital investment fund would not be guaranteed by the govt for example ! why is that? coz its not bricks and mortar stupid ! reduce land prices - reduce market prices - improves supply - prices fall - affordability increases - deposit requirements can be INcreased - and so on - its not rocket science.. increase migration slightly, allow the development of micro-cities around corporate tax favoured regions who are close to the main rail and port networks, allow infrastructure bonds to be raised against 5 main regional areas, and you can nail all sorts of problems at once...

however, the big picture is that the greed of banks, and the american people, who have let their democracy become a totalanariastic unvoted for world police force; who are fighting to maintain control of a life style that is costing the whole of us the majority of of our monetary and resource securities, and who in general are the drivers of the new law of the 20th century " the consumer is god "

are going to ruin us all anyway. dont believe me - go to chrismartenson.com - i dare you to bullshit yourself to the contrary when you have watched the whole crash course more than once... so in closing, buy property, trade it, freehold your own home, and get a good bicycle...

Off with their heads... There is already a land tax... It's called Rates.

Wally: "cuts are exactly what the govt is planning." hmmm yes and no, a sensible approach is to think the un-thinkable and plan/consider for doing such if forced to...Key has said this is not going to be a radical first term and he has repeated that. Not giving out tax cuts would surely have been a major idelogical issue for National...yet they did just that.

"NO over the dole question." I would have said no, pretty fast myself....ppl have been silly with debt levels, it shouldnt be for a Govn to protect them from silly behaviour. Lower income ppl have little or no disposable income so for me it makes sense to cover, the basics...I dont see the Swedish model as sane....to an extent I agree with the Libertanz, ppl should as far as practical provide for themselves, we are after all grown ups....we should be looking after ourselves for "normal" bad events....

regards