OPINION: So much for all these housing experts who said the housing market would dip because of Covid. Some said it could tank by up to 20 percent.
Where are those commentators now?
They're reaching for the twink to cover up what they wrote months ago and rushing to rewrite their columns to say, yes, I predicted this boom.
It's an odd reaction of an economy to a lockdown where confidence disappeared overnight and tens of thousands of people joined the unemployment queue.
It comes down to supply and demand and these historically low-interest rates which almost makes it free money.
It's astonishing really and if you can buy, you should.
If you have a deposit and a job then you're sitting pretty.
Renting a three-bedroom home in one of the major cities might be a $100 more expensive than paying an average-sized mortgage on a two percent interest rate.
That's why thousands of Kiwis are pouring through the front doors of the auction houses trying to grab a house before the next guy grabs it.
In 2008 I was paying 9.9 percent interest rate on half a million dollars. Throw in a couple of kids and it really started to hurt. Now it's two percent on a smaller mortgage.
First home buyers and investors are back. When money is being shoved in your pocket for the tiniest of fees no wonder no one is saying no.
Three-quarters of all house sales last month went for more than half a million dollars for the first time on record and the country's median house price rose almost 15 percent from a year earlier to 685,000 dollars
Cheap money, not enough houses, no need for the big 20 percent plus deposit. It's all on again, get in quick.
I would say it won't last. But I can't say that either. This could be like this for years to come as we recover from COVID.
Duncan Garner hosts The AM Show.
