Andrew Bruce is the President of the Auckland Property Investors’ Association and is passionate about sharing his experience with fellow investors.

Property markets work in cycles, and currently, we are in the upper stages of this market cycle. When will it finish, nobody knows.

Related article: What is a ‘housing crisis’?

It seems you can’t open the paper or online media these days without an article talking about property prices. With this level of interest in the market
and the legitimate concerns about the unaffordability of housing, particularly in Auckland, there is little wonder enterprising entrepreneurs are creating
ways to assist people looking to gain a foothold in the market. The options I’ve seen recently have ranged from buying shares in a property through
to potential crowdfunding opportunities.

While the marketing of some of these companies may appear compelling, what we need to be aware of is the property market works in cycles. Currently, with
the associated media hype around property we could be forgiven for thinking that property is a one-way bet and that prices will never stagnate or go
down. It was only six years ago in the final quarter of 2010 that property prices decreased.  Before that, the Auckland market also took a hit
for the most of 2008.

From my experience, having now been through two property cycles, there tend to be repeated discernible patterns. At the start of a cycle, prices can stagnate
or decline (as in 2008 and late 2010). In 2012 property prices in Auckland started increasing. Immigration was slightly negative, but interest rates
were starting to drop.  Auckland at the time had an undersupply of houses.  Since then we have had the perfect storm for property...