Big range of calls on house market

Stable, depressed and rising - that's the spread of predictions for the housing market in 2010. The fortunes of the sector, estimated to be worth $500 billion, are of more interest to New Zealanders than any other business because we have so much of our wealth in housing.

Barfoot & Thompson managing director Peter Thompson reckons the sector will stay much like it was in early December.

"Neither up nor down a lot, just fairly stable. Where we are now is where the market will set. I can't see it going up a lot more or falling away because we have a very steady market and there's now a balance between buyers and sellers. Prices in Auckland will continue to sit around the mid-$540,000 mark."

NZIER principal economist Shamubeel Eaqub predicts rising interest rates and falling net migration which he reckons will push the housing market down.

But Thompson says it will be precisely these factors which either keep it stable or push it further ahead.

To read full article from NZ Herald click here

Posted: 5 Jan 2010

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