The following are excerpts from Kristin Sutherland’s report to the Auckland Property Investors’ Association 2022 Annual General Meeting.
What a tough year 2022 had been for everyone with COVID, and added on top of that, the challenges of being a property investor, with numerous legislative changes and now macro-economic pressures that impact property investment.
It feels to me that we are very much under siege from the current government but be assured that APIA and NZPIF are doing the best we can to get the government to hear our voice on all the proposed changes, but, to be honest, even when we do get them to hear us, they are not very good at listening to our point of view. Unfortunately, we are not making much headway with this government, but we will continue to make noise and advocate, and then educate you as soon as we can about changes as they happen.
In terms of the market itself, I think we can all agree that we are in changing times. I am very active in the market at the moment, and there has been a dramatic shift in the market from very much a sellers’ market, to a buyers’ market. If you are an investor that likes to buy counter-cyclically, maybe your time is coming. Get out there and have a look and see what is happening. … That is a lot of properties not selling at auction, to negotiate on later. I am sure that you are aware that the CCCFA changes implemented in Dec 2021, have had a massive impact on the ability of many buyers, both homeowners and investors to get finance, and this looks set to continue until sometime in July, when the legislation is changed to ease this a little, but...
