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Barfoot & Thompson's median price took a big drop in January but sales volumes were strong

Property
Barfoot & Thompson's median price took a big drop in January but sales volumes were strong

The median price of homes sold by Auckland's biggest real estate agency slumped by 5% last month.

Barfoot & Thompson's median price dropped to $760,000 in January compared to $800,000 in December.

January's median was the lowest since August when it was $755,000, but was still up by $60,000 on January 2015's median of $700,000.

The average selling price of homes sold by the agency in January was $811,700 compared to $869,492 in December.

January's average price was the lowest since April last year.

However the number of sales held up well, with Barfoots selling 893 homes in January compared to 796 in December and 859 in January last year.

"January activity was the normal mix of ups and downs that occur in the first month's trading," Barfoot & Thompson Managing Director Peter Thompson said.

"This year sale numbers were at the top end of what we normally sell in January, prices were down with new listings being tight.

"It is never a good idea to read too much into the first month's figures," he said.

The company newly listed 919 homes for sale in January, which was up 21% on the 757 that were newly listed for sale in December but down 6.6% compared to the 1199 new listings that were signed up in January last year.

At the end of the January Barfoots had 2574 homes in total available for sale on its books, which was well down from both the 3044 it had on its books at the end of December and the 2899 on its books at the end of January last year.

January's inventory figure was the lowest it has been for 20 years, leaving buyers with fewer homes to choose from.

"With so few properties on the market, now represents an excellent time to sell as this is likely to ensure that prices remain solid," Thompson said.

This year had also started with changes in the mix of properties that were selling,

The number of homes selling for more than $1 million dropped to 20.7% of sales compared to 34.9% in December.

Conversely the number of home selling for less than $500,000 increased to 28.6% of sales in January compared to just 5.5% in December.

And the company sold a higher percentage of homes in the outer southern and northern suburbs, where prices tend to be lower, and fewer in the higher priced central and eastern suburbs than it normally did.

"It will not be until early March, when February's sales data is available, that a true trend for 2016 emerges," Thompson said.

Barfoot Auckland

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110 Comments

Gong Xi Fa Cai & Happy Chinese New Year!

Boom boom boom, let’s go back to the auction room! Year of the Monkey here we come!!

First sale of February 2016 at B&T auction room yesterday! Classic DGZ Mt Eden bungalow with a CV of $1.5m sold for $2.65m! O-la-la~

https://www.facebook.com/ketieshasrealestatepage/photos/np.145448228077…

Surely this will headline the Anne Gibson property news on NZ Herald very soon :-P
Auckland property market is about to go bananas! http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=115…

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I'd argue that anybody expressing glee at kiwis being priced out of their own country is not a very nice person.

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Chinese immigrants are indeed Kiwis! They move to NZ, call NZ home and call themselves Kiwis, just like your ancestors did :-P

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Does that have any relevance to other Kiwis being priced out of the market?

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There will always be some Kiwis priced out of the market. I can only scrape together $100k and want a 3 beddie in Epsom. I am priced out of the market. What am I to do?

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Ranui is your market. It's not too bad there...lots of shops and close to the motorway & Waitakere Ranges :-) You need $400k cash deposit for Epsom my dear.

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Personally I think it's early days and we're yet to see exactly what will happen in 2016.

But, the more shrill you and the NZ Herald and bank spruikers get, the more I wonder if things really are looking dire?

Why not disclose your interest in the industry - are you an agent or working for an industry body?

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Interesting to read the commentary around the imminent demise of the Auckland housing market. Consider firstly, thanks to the reach of the internet we are now firmly on the global radar and increasingly being found as a preferred place to live.

I’m interested that on a worldwide basis, we’re up there – but then again, why shouldn’t we be. As a result of our stable political situation, clean water, fresh air and no war zone position, we will increasingly become first choice for those looking for a peaceful, safe haven.

If you take the decision confirming the rail loop, alongside other infrastructure projects, add in the major CBD developments in play and you have billions of dollars flowing through the Auckland economy over the next 5 -10 years. Add record migration confirmed this week and record low interest rates; it’s hard to see Auckland house prices softening, short of an international meltdown.

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REINZ stratified index down 6% Oct-Dec for Auckland. And together with above, I'd call that softening...

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you forget to mention little boxes built in people backyards, loss of living space, green areas being bulldozed over to make new houses and roads, gridlock traffic, crowded shopping centres,more homeless living on the streets and in cars.yes Auckland is turning into an international city and importing a lot of the horrible traits from other countries.
when we had a controlled immigration process we had a nice mixing of cultures and were developing a kiwi flavour to them.
talking with my Chinese and indian friends that arrived years and years even they are dismayed how parts of Auckland now reflect more where they came from than the country they came too
no wonder born and bred aucklanders are fleeing in droves to other parts of the country so they can enjoy what the kiwi lifestyle used to be

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Wonderful news! Auckland has made it to the top 20 for the first time!

Auckland makes it onto 'cities on the up' list. Please be positive guys and 'Love Our City' #EyeOnAuckland :-P

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=115…

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To be fair, should add that it sold for $2.4m in dec 2014.

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Wow. Those who held off buying late last year will be happy. Those suckers who gave into pressure and bought last year will be buying a lot of toilet paper at the supermarkets today. It is all about momentum and when it changes it certainly changes. Why anyone bought a house in Auckland late last year when the writing was on the wall stuns me, especially FHBers and those with minimal equity. Any equity they put into those homes is certainly decreasing in size. A FHBer bought a house for $700k. They scrapped together $140k with cash,kiwisaver withdrawls, family "gifts" and whatever else they could lay their hands on. They borrowed $560K. The $700k house is now worth only $650K and the momentum is downwards for four months. You are servicing $50k you did not need to borrow if you had the brains to wait until now. Not a great feeling. By the way I would not buy now as the momentum is down, gradually and consistently.

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HK, london, sydney all on way down too due to Chinese pulling out.

Exactly what they did to Iron Ore in Aussie and milk in NZ ; their heard mentality means they all buy at once pumping prices of whatever it is they buy (eg check out their sharemarket), then all stop at once. And due to the share numbers of them create massive boom-bust cycles - Oil, milk, commodities fell much harder and further than anyone predicted; the same will happen with Chinese favoured property around the world, which unfortunately for us includes good old auckland

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exactly and the GFC could be starting in china,
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/03/kyle-bass-china-banks-months-away-from-d…
you are right about the herd mentailty to making money in china
"I had doubts at the beginning," Jiang said. "[But] many of my friends and their families had invested in Ezubo. I saw the company's advertisements and awards on China's state media and other channels, so I thought it was real."
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/03/investors-scared-of-china-stock-markets-…

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The global asset bubble due to cheap money seems to be deflating. The mineral rich nations with Sovereign Wealth Funds are now having to liquidate assets to fund the budget deficits so who is going to buy their assets?
As you say the top end of the global property market is starting to fall quite sharply especially in London and Hong Kong. Interesting few months ahead.

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Still waiting for the headline: "Auckland median house price drops 70%". That would get Auckland back in line with international best performance. A 5% drop doesn't mean much more than prices didn't keep going up.

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Believe me it's much better than seeing prices increase by 5%.

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5% in 1 month is massive. Thats a 60% yoy rate. I.e if this trend remains for the rest of the year you'll be very close to your 70% drop! - It wont drop that much, but it will surpise many as to how far its going to fall (as Oil, milk, iron ore, chinese stock market all have surprised, all driven by the same thing - herd mentality of the most populous country in the world)

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LOL Simon, I like your logic :-P

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^^^^^^ hope

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Neither history nor fundamentals looking forward suggest that it is even a possibility.

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The NZH article goes into more detail, with Barfoot taking great pains to clarify that the drop in prices is attributable to them selling relatively more lower value homes on the outskirts of Auckland, and fewer high-priced properties in the central suburbs. Interesting that they only bother to disclose the makeup of their sales when prices are going down. I guess it's not relevant information when prices are going up?

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I think the Real Estate Agents are feeling the pinch as they wouldn't have switched from selling at the more lucrative auction selling to priced (or negotiation) literally over night if there wasn't a strong reason. I think everyone is starting to realize what that reason is; China restricting overseas investment.

Since Auckland no longer has the high rolling 39% pressuring the top end of the housing market, you can expect to see prices fall - I place my bet at a 20% drop over this year, though I hope that it's a lot more! I agree that it makes no sense, to have FTB kiwis priced out of their land.

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Auctions have been on the increase again lately. What do you make of that CJ?

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The NZH and B & T have a very cosy relationship. Always have, always will. Too much advertising money involved for there to be true independence. For financial reasons neither party would want the RE Market to be seen to be slowing down as it could mean less people wanting to buy for investment for example. Less advertising revenue and less commissions. If you look at the NZH article today in response to the B&T January data you would think Auckland property had an amazing month. Big emphasis on sales volume increase and downplaying the big monthly drop in average and median prices. Is it possible increased volume in sales as more and more people sell to lock in profits. Not a great to sell really as prices dropped 6% over the October to December period. Better to sell later than never though.

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But sales volumes are up! All is well!

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Agreed!
Auckland's house sales volume jump to 8-year high in January 2016.
Auckland's stock level of 2,574 properties is a 20-year low in January 2016.

Watch out for the mini boom after Chinese New Year next week. I've been talking to quite a few groups of Chinese friends in the last few months, and guess what, they ARE coming!!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/property/news/article.cfm?c_id=8&objectid=115…

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Correction B & T stock levels at 20 year low. What are the other RE companies holding in terms of stock? What is being sold privately? All this is not that relevant really as despite low levels of stock being held by B & H both average and median prices dropped considerably. Not a good sign. Low stock levels and lower prices. You would expect prices to increase normally in that scenario. Could it be showing less buyers and sellers dropping expectations to get a sale. Desperation on the part of sellers? Time to sell if you need to.

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... and still that charlatan waste of space prime minister does nothing.

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What exactly do you expect him to do? Bearing in mind that he cannot do anything without the agreement of majority in Parliament?

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Reduce immigration to sustainable levels?
Hefty stamp duty on foreign buyers?
Restrict foreign buyers to building new homes?
Proper capital gains tax on speculators?
Land tax?
Remove negative gearing?
Remove housing subsidies?
Take action on land banking?
Improve tenancy laws?
Government building programme?
Acknowledge there is a problem?

Kiwis should not be living in fear of another wave of crushing offshore speculation while this government sits on its hands.

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Yes but don't blame the immigrants. Heather got it, so should you!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11582356

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The blame lies with this do nothing government and its policy failure.

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..rubbish. Call it population increase if you prefer.... more bods needing a roof is fuel.

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Good to see Heather's opinion is quality as usual.... I like how she mentions there's a London School of Economics study only "just out" when it seems it was actually published in December 2011.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/fi…

And it looks like she's taken a few things out of this article which is somewhat more recent:

http://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2016/jan/25/is-immigration-c…

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heather is an immigrant hardly impartial reporting, why not the headline don't blame me or my family.

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Heather is also the daughter of one of Barfoot and Thompson's most successful real estate agents (Elizabeth Du Plessis).

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What is wrong with you lot of sour grapes?? Real estate is a highly respectable profession and the agents I know have hugely contributed to the well-being of the society including lots & lots of cultural & charity sponsorship, including the Lantern Festival at the Domain next weekend.

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If you ain't trolling, I need a pill, a cuppa, and a lie down.

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LOL highly respectable profession FUNNY

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Like used car salesmen and those people who do roofing and driveway tarmac scams are respected.

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Lol, yep troll confirmed. Well done.

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I'm so disappointed with you lot. Have some respect...agents are humans too :-P

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Haha. Agents are human. That's a good one.

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like these three fine individuals slapped with a wet bus ticket for making a "honest" 165 K of some poor person
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=115…
or this one selling a meth house
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=115…
or this one
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=115…
seems a bit of a pattern do whatever it takes to make money and don't worry if you get caught you will only get slapped with a wet bus ticket from a body of you peers

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Err. no, it's not a highly respected "profession".

It's an occupation that is full of unqualified semi-literate shysters who just happen to be at the right place at the right time... polishing turds.

They are totally exposed to the whims of a single asset class and their time will come. Very soon.

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Peter Thomson seems unclear about the direction of the Auckland Housing Market so I have done some calculations for him (using Barfoot figures) comparing January 2016 average figures to their peaks, all September, October 2015, except for South. Central Suburbs - 7.3%, Eastern Suburbs - 8.4%, Franklin - 9.1%, North Shore - 4.7%, Pakuranga/Howick - 11.1% Rodney -.0.2% , West -6.3%, Central Auckland -36.3% (varies alot), South's previous peak was May 2015 and it has increased by 0.6% since then. I hope he finds these figures useful.

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Thanks zorro15. For the love of me why did anyone buy late last year when the correction was commencing and there was data coming in showing that to be the case. We are so fixated with "having it now". Renting for that little bit longer has the potential to save you borrowing tens of thousands of dollars off the banks. I will stick my neck out now. It is still not the right to time to buy. The momentum seems to be down. Keep renting and wait for the momentum to move upwards.You could end up not having to borrow a reasonable amount of money. Paying interest is just the same as paying rent in this climate.Just imagine that $700k home costing you $600k. Anything is possible. Not paying interest on $100k is not to be sneezed at.

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Interesting headline, another headline could've been "AVERAGE SALE PRICES DROP 6.7%" (from $869'492 to $811'700)

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Watch for the reverse Halo effect coming soon. Hamilton now has (trade me) 561 properties for rent and 321 properties for sale. Median house price (reinz) up 15.6% July to December 2015. Ma and Pa property investors buying in Hamilton so they don't have to come up with 30% LVR. They forgot that if you want to have a rental you actually have to get some tenants. Is there much industry growth? Dairy is going down the toilet as far as I know. Perhaps people want to spend an extra 3 hours commuting everyday so they can save $100 bucks a week in rent? So if Hamilton prices drop 10% Ma and Pa Auckland investors have no equity in their Hamilton property and with Auckland prices dropping, they will have even less in their Auckland property, hello negative equity (the reverse Halo effect)

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Wow. The tone of these comments is incredible. When prices are reported as rising and the property bulls confirm this we are crucified for being gleeful. Now listen to the bears. I can almost feel your excitement at a possible decrease in prices.

Prices may pull back a bit but the long term trend is up. Saying FHB'ers shouldn't have bought last year is silly. They were buying homes, not investments. Presumably they'll live in them for a while... given a few years they'll get their turn at capital gains. Worrying about month to month price changes is fruitless.

Auckland is at least 3 years away from supply getting anywhere close to catching up with demand. It would be very unusual for house prices to decline overall in such an environment.

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More worried about the fundamentals, you know the income to pay the interest on such expensive houses or even the rental required to give a decent return.
I think it's more about the 58 trillion of new debt in the last 10 years, whether it's all a great big bubble and the consequences of it deflating.
Thankfully I own a house and don't need another one.

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I'm more worried about my share portfolio than my property one! No plans to sell either, but if I had to choose to sell one today it wouldn't be property.

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I am much the same, may as well keep my property, equities could have some pressure as profits fall in a recession but with all the pension funds in for the long haul should be fairy stable if not boring.

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This looks scary to me.

Back in April 2013, we showed for the first time something few were aware of, namely that "At $72.8 Trillion, The Bank With The Biggest Derivative Exposure In The World" was not JPMorgan as some had expected, but Germany's banking behemoth, Deutsche bank.

Some brushed it off, saying one should never look at gross derivative exposure but merely net, to which we had one simple response: net immediately becomes gross when just one counterparty in the collateral chains fails - case in point, the Lehman and AIG failures and the resulting scramble to bailout the entire world which cost trillions in taxpayer funds. Read more

Maybe it's time to review how AIG fell prey to market strictures? Read more

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wow most of us have gone to cash bias on our shares until the knives stop falling, there will be good buying once that stops, locked in my profits in the santa rally,
https://nz.finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=%5ENZ50#symbol=%5ENZ50;range=1m

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Follow the HK market at all? Early 2000s in HK? HK right now? In a strangled market where lack of housing has existed for ever - prices can and do fall, it all depends on how far ahead the prices get

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Are they not down 10 per cent since October 2015. And the momentum looks like it is all one way M, down.

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Hi Machiavelli, the bearish amongst us recognise the problems associated with living in the third most expensive city in the world. Decreasing home-ownership, increasing indebtedness and lowering living standards especially for people on lower incomes who have to pay half their income in rent, less possibilty of our children owning their own homes,etcetera. If you believe in the under-supply issue, I wonder if you are with the BNZ. How many Indian student migrants do you think can afford to buy a house in Auckland?

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Well as there all 25,000 of them they could all pool their money.

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zorro, this is capitalism! I agree, it's ugly. I'm not with BNZ but I do have a particularly unique viewpoint of the housing supply issue and I certainly believe in it. Denying it is like denying climate change. You can deny it all you like, meanwhile the problem will just get worse.

And to answer your last question, I haven't seen many Indian students in the auction rooms so I'm guessing they don't make up a big proportion of house buyers. They certainly make up a sizable group of tenants though.

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Machiavelli, not on topic but can't resist. Did you know that "climate change" morphed from "anthropogenic global warming" which at the time was a theory. As they couldn't prove it they came up with "climate change' so even when it gets colder they can say it is because of global warming, I kid you not.

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1 Young kiwi VS 1 Chinese + Parents + Grandparents – out bid
1 Kiwi couple VS 1 Chinese couple + 2 Parents + 2 Grandparents – out bid

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Please do not forget that the Chinese grandparents are also getting their income from the pension which most likely they never paid a cent of tax towards.

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Agree Spacex, Immigrant grandparents not only get NZ pension but free NZ healthcare.

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In-correct, that appears to have changed, see my reply below.

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You appear to be in-correct. An immigrant can bring in their retired parents, if,

"If you are the parent of a New Zealand citizen or resident, you may be able to join them in New Zealand under our Parent Retirement Category. Unlike the Parent Category, you do not need to submit an expression of interest in order to apply under the Parent Retirement Category.
Am I eligible?

The requirements you will need to meet to gain residence under the Parent Retirement Category include:

You must have an adult child who lives in New Zealand and who is a New Zealand citizen or resident. You must not have any dependent children. You must have sufficient and acceptable investment and settlement funds and/or assets. "

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/live/parentretirementcate…

not their grandparents I believe, nor siblings.

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It looks like SpaceX & MyPeeps are trying to rub it in, quoting false information, and instead of referring it to immigrant they rather use the word "Chinese".

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Misdirection

The daisy chain in operation - how 2 can become 14

A 30 yo migrant couple can become permanent residents who can then bring both sets of parents in. Thats 4 parents. Once the 4 parents are in, and obtain permanent residency they in turn are the children of 8 parents who theoretically can then be brought in. Thus the 8 grandparents of the initial couple can indeed be brought in.

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And all of them bringing with them "sufficient and acceptable investment and settlement funds and/or assets". Sounds like good news to me.

Yes, once they are over 65 and have lived here for ten years they can claim NZS. I would advise, however, that you be careful what you wish for in suggesting that NZS eligibility should be related to the extent to which an individual has contributed to the NZ economy and society. There are plenty of NZ-borns who not only pay not tax but actually cost the taxpayer far more than they contribute, throughout their whole lives. By contrast it seems pretty unlikely that people who arrive here as adults with substantial funds would manage not to pay any tax at all in ten years.

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Absolute rubbish. A New Zealander, since 1985, would at least have paid substantial GST over their lifetime. Those from lower socio economic backgrounds are unlikely to last much into retirement anyway. Name one other country that will allow a NZ citizen to immigrate and then recieve a pension without any contribution?

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So in effect the Chinese family see more value in a property than the kiwi couple. This happens all the time, just you appear to be adding a racist flavour to it.

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You guys miss the whole point - Chinese family will give all their love and money to their child due to single child policy. Can a young kiwi get 200k from dad and mum for their FHB? A young Chinese can easily get 200k from gift from parents, and 200k gift from grandparents. I am talking about culture difference, not racist.

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What you said is not culture, it's race based. You are a racist!

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Yep, troll status confirmation again

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dp

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you are correct on the single child in that htere is more to be given less spread,
steven is also correct in they hold more store in the house as an asset and not just a home
a chinese friend brough her house last year for 700k 1/2 given by parents and they also help her with mortage payments as she can not afford to live here on her NZ wage.
they have come for a three month visit i asked her has she shown them the sights and been taking the around especially out side auckland
no they have spent the time her doing maintance on her property, painting, fixing things mowing lawns not my idea of a holiday
if i went to stay with a close relative and they expected that from me they would be told to F off
so i guess there is a culture difference

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Another racist!

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Playing the race card huh? The first resort of anyone who doesn't like the way the argument is going....so doublegz, are you saying that any born and bred NZ'er (or Aucklander) who dares to question the enormous influx of Chinese (FACT) into this city and the accompanying "issues" such as NZ'ers being priced out of their housing market is "racist"..nice way to play that card and try and kill the argument based around facts. With all due respect, you are the one being emotive. The facts are real and for anyone who has lived here their whole life it is indisputable. The entire demographic of many Auckland suburbs have changed in a matter of a few years and "we" are entitled to have very valid concerns about the way it is heading for the next generation. But apparently this is xenophobic ...unfortunately it is smug, gloating people like you talking the "boom" up and the incoming next wave like it is something positive for a city already bursting at the seams who cause the backlash. Go play the race card for something who gives a damn - I don't care what colour, creed, race or religion you are - Auckland is full and first priority should be for NZ'ers - period.

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Gosh you sound like Phil Twyford! Get your facts right, there're more influx of immigrants from India & the UK. Targeting 2x Wong's doesn't make a right.

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Wow - 2+ hours to think about it, edit and re-post and that's the rebuttal??? Guess I touched a nerve. Anyway on the North Shore of Auckland that isn't the case and I haven't seen many from the UK buying via an agent via cell-phone - they come here to live, work,contribute and assimilate, not speculate and park dirty money.

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Latest from the top. February will bring some interesting results we believe, with strong evidence coming out of the auction rooms already is that the market will be the gift that keeps on giving.

https://www.facebook.com/ketieshasrealestatepage/?fref=nf

https://www.barfoot.co.nz/market-reports/2016/january/market-update

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Nice diversion from the argument... Keep twolling away!

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...therein lies the problem of foreign ownership. Overseas investors with far more cash than locals. And yet some celebrate the TPP for preventing us banning. Any wonder why people are upset? Some distant unmeaserable benefit verse in your face present inability to house.

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Why is the all the anger directed at the Chinese rather than, say, all the many UK immigrants?

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go and check the immigration stats website for applications on hand for residents
great britain 1313 people applying
india 3635 people applying
china 7712 people applying
Fiji 1090 most would be of indian descent to escape a regime that now treats them as second class
and not one single Australia wants to become a kiwi
lets call everyone that looks at the facts racist to shut down the debate

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Not all Chinese are from China...I've never seen people with such narrow mind!

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they are listed as from country of citizenship but don't let facts get in your way

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It is unfair to make the Chinese residents feel unwelcome though. I work with many highly educated Chinese immigrants who make an enormous contribution to the economy here, love NZ and just want to be accepted. I agree that overseas ownership is rubbish for residents here & believe they should pay stamp duty. Resident immigrants contribute, pay taxes and help drive the economy . Just like all of our ancestors did.. And many asian immigrants, like young NZ born people, cannot afford to buy in Auckland now or anytime soon.

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people are worried about the levels of immigration, total number and three main source countries supplying the bulk,personally I would like to see a wider spread to add to the melting pots, would love a quota from each continent and help continue to create a unique kiwi culture, too many of one culture too quickly will eventually overtake the local culture and mirror the imported culture and since our history is not long you can see what happened to the Maori culture and how close we came to losing a lot of it.
the wider the melting pot the more cultured we all will become

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In today's world most countries - unless you are Northern Korea - have an increasingly multi cultural society. NZ is a highly attractive country to emigrate to but our geographical isolation means we can, to a certain degree, limit immigration to skilled or wealthy families. Countries like the UK are faced with a flood of poor, desperate people just looking for food and shelter. Many people here seem to have rose tinted spectacles for the 'old New Zealand' but remember the brain drain, young people desperate to get out of what they saw as a cultural backwater. That has changed. NZ is now on the map. Think positively guys!

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Multi culturalism does indeed have its advantages but if we are to be truly multi cultural then we need to have immigration from a more diverse range of populations. We also need to have a more staggered increase in the total number of migrants so infrastructure and housing can keep pace, not a free for all which is occurring at the moment.
Multiculturalism in most other countries hasn't come from recent migration but is a natural make up of their own countries. India and China could be considered multi cultural but its not from recent immigration.

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Hi Doublegz, while it is true that not all Chinese are from China (many rich Chinese are from Singapore, Malaysia, etc.), it would do well for rich Chinese buyers (or Chinese agents) like you to keep a low profile and not fan up racism feelings. Buy up all the properties if you will. Make millions if you can. But pls be sensitive to the general masses of Kiwis here, as well as the many Chinese who live and work here. We do not wish to be the target of any racial riots breaking out in NZ. Pls keep insensitive, arrogant and ignorant remarks such as "property market is a gift that keeps giving" to yourself. Everyone with experience with property market knows there is a cycle - just like stock market, & is influenced by 2 main factors, "Greed", and "Fear". While AKL's supply situation causes an imbalance between supply and demand, other external factors such was oil crisis, wars, change of government etc. can also tilt the balance suddenly. Go get rich by all means! But have a conscience too, & STOP manipulating & STOP encouraging herd instinct!

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SB Kiwi is right on the nail. There is definitely cultural differences here. It is very common for Chinese parents to buy properties for their children as gifts, or else subsidize by making the deposit, if they can afford to. Another cultural difference is the emphasis given to education. Practically every Chinese parents make sure that their children received as much education as they can afford - even if that means holding down 2-3 jobs themselves. & while Kiwis with 5-6 children lament about their poverty trap and inability to own homes - most Chinese parents have only 1-2 children (and I don't mean only those Chinese from China!). Chinese are also by culture very frugal and certainly will not spend their savings touring the world for 6 months (even if on backpack!) - until they are successful, rich, and retired! It is all a question of priorities...

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Trade Me listings today in Hamilton. 21 for rent, 9 for sale.

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Trade me listings today in Hamilton. Rent 563, 340 for sale

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Only Property articles get large comment numbers on this site. Absolute confirmation of an OCD within this country. Id suggest corrective therapy.

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Re Trade Me Listings 21 and 9 referred to ones added on Thursday. Doublegz sounds like Jami-Lee Ross, National MP for Botany.Who said it was racist to say that people with Chinese surnames are Chinese.

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Hahaha! What an honour - thank you :-)

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My partner comes from a small town in the Atlantic South of France. Local people couldn't afford to buy houses because of all the rich Parisians and Londoners buying them for holiday homes. They were forced to leave or rent. So the council built more houses. Then those houses were sold at cost + small margin only to locals that earned under a certain amount (not poor only, standard middle class) and that were resident in the town for a certain number of years. With the caveat that the houses could be sold only after 5 years minimum. Why is this so hard to do in Auckland? If Auckland Council started building houses 5 years ago we would have solved the problem by now, and the Council would have some extra cash.

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Isn't this a little bit similar to NZ state housing back in the '50s and 60s. Seemed to work back then.

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so why not again? Why do we spend billions to build roads and subways that we get to use for mostly free and not on houses that we would pay for?

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Because the free market knows best. Governments are less efficient ok?

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oki doki sorry master. Why aren't the All Blacks a private company then? They are the best no?

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that's a myth, plenty of studies have been done on the benefits of government verses private enterprise
the difference breaks down to private enterprise is in it for profit where government are in it for the votes.
the best way is a partnership where the government has the vision and supplys the funding but private enterprise undertakes the design and build, the only flaw is the government official overseeing the project does not have the skills or experience

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Friday Funny.

I was gonna start a business producing prefabricated workers houses, but there was nowhere to house the workers necessary to make the project work.

The land that I wanted to build the factory on was mine all mine, but was not in the Zone for commercialization for such a project.

The Peer to Peer funding was not nearly enough for such an eventuality anyway as the Aussie banks were only interested in building mansions, not workers abode, I was gonna sell my houses, but the bottom dropped out of the market.

The return on Capital was not accountable my accountant said, really to warrant such a low rate of return, so he suggested to have them prefabricated in Asia.

(Note a simple place, with simple rules and simple people, who just wanted to work, to put a simple roof over their heads, not an investment to flick on, to their next victim, nor rent out to the overseas hordes coming on holiday from NZ after selling to another Asian customer, whose country shall be nameless, so I shall be blameless. Oh and by the way, the timber would have come from NZ, the Aluminum from Invercargil and the designer was a simple man who had done this all before...back in the day, now long since retired, but needed to work as someone had stolen all his term deposit returns to buy up rental houses).

The irony is they were gonna be for Farm Workers Cottages as well as for housing overseas students, sick of sharing with multiple mates and prostituting ladies to get a Double down bed plus Miners who used to work for Solid Energy, now made redundant by.....uneconomic processes.

I think that about covers it, so I shall be Land Banking the Land to await future developments.

Almost funny, if not true.

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Please, everyone just truly relax out there in your Jimmy Choo shoes ....Mike Hosking says everything is just going "gangbusters" so don't worry all.....plus we have Mr Smiley Wavey at the helm ...we really are truly in economic heaven ....:)

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We'll really know that economic apocalypse is nigh when that drivelling halfwit is fronting ads for finance companies. Unless he is already? Talk about a pull-out-your-money-and-buy-a-pallet-of-chickpeas sign.

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Remind we where they get their loot from?

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