By Greg Ninness
The chief executive of this country's largest real estate agency believes the housing market is running so hot that there may not be a traditional winter slow down in the market this year.
In a Double Shot video interview with interest.co.nz, Harcourts Group chief executive Chris Kennedy said he wasn't sure there would be a traditional slow down this year as the market headed towards winter.
He said migration inflows were still incredibly strong and mortgage interest rates were still incredibly low. And on top of that there was a massive housing shortage in Auckland.
"So all factors point towards this continuing," he said.
"I don't know how you'd find 30,000 to 40,000 houses to put them into the mix to fill the buyer need that we've got."
There were also signs that investor activity was picking up again in Auckland.
Kennedy said many investors left the Auckland market to find properties in the provinces when the two-year bright line test for tax on capital gains and the LVR restrictions on Auckland investment properties were introduced last year.
But investment activity was picking up again in Auckland, driven by the prospect of further capital gains.
"Capital gain is where it's at, at the moment for investors," he said.
However the mix of investors might be changing.
Some investors who had owned investment properties in Auckland for several years were deciding it was good time to sell and realise the big increases in the value of their properties that had occurred over the last few years.
At the same time many mums and dads who had seen big increases in the value of their family home were borrowing against that to help fund the purchase of an investment property.
"Mums and dads are saying we are going to get on this as well and be part of it," Kennedy said.
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