The Property Academy Podcast

In this episode, we discuss the recent survey results that Tony Alexander has published which shows how property values are currently feeling about the New Zealand property market. We discuss why the opinions and outlook of values matter, and how they currently view of New Zealand's main centres – Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown. We also mention our property investor quiz, which after just 7 questions will give you a 'yes', 'no', or 'maybe' answer about whether you are in the position to invest in property.

In this episode, we discuss Rent to Buy schemes and how they have the potential to benefit and harm both the vendor and the potential purchaser. In a Rent to Buy property-purchasing structure, a vendor will agree to sell a purchaser a property for today's price, but the purchaser does not have to pay for the property for a number of years (e.g. 5 years). Over that time, the purchaser will pay market rent to the vendor, plus an additional amount, which counts as part of the deposit.  The benefit to the vendor is that they will usually sell the property with a margin (i.e. it won't really be the market rate on today's market). And if the purchaser decides not to settle, the vendor gets to keep the additional rent.  That can make rent to buy schemes incredibly risky for purchasers, especially lower income purchasers who would typically be targeted by these schemes. We also mention our property investor quiz, which after answering 7 basic questions will give you a yes, no or maybe answer about whether you are in the position to invest.  

In this episode, we discuss and recap our recent webinar: How to Find the Most Profitable Areas to Invest in. Within this webinar we looked at the distribution of yields and historic capital growth rates within suburbs located in the four main centres: Auckland, Christchurch, Hamilton and Wellington.  As part of this webinar, we also created eight new maps – 2 for each of the four main centres. These maps show the capital growth rates and yields for each suburb so you can use them to find the most profitable areas to invest in. Map of the Auckland Property Market Map of the Christchurch Property Market Map of the Wellington Property Market Map of the Hamilton Property Market Click here to watch the full webinar replay.

In this episode, we discuss the concept of overcapitalisation, what it is and how you can avoid it. In simple terms, overcapitalisation is where you spend more money to renovate a property, but you get less out of the property than what you've spent. This applies to any dollar that you've spent on a property and not seen a return on that dollar (that is anywhere, where you have spent a dollar and not seen your property increase in value by a dollar). We also mention our property investor quiz, this is where you can answer 7 quick questions and you'll get an instant 'yes', 'no' or 'maybe' answer about whether you are in the position to invest or not just yet. 

In this episode, we reveal real aggregated data from the retirement plans of Opes Partners clients. This gives you the chance to peer behind the curtain and get a sense of how other Kiwis are planning for retirement.  Key figures include: The median desired retirement income is $100,000 The median age of a retirement planner (in the sample) is 41.5, with a median retirement age of 65 Given a median life expectancy of 90, that means that the average person has 23.5 years until retirement to make enough money to live for 25 years in retirement.  We also mention our upcoming property investment webinar, which is happening tonight at 7pm. If you are keen to attend, then click here. Or, click here to watch the replay (once it's live)

In this episode, we discuss the BNZ's recently announced changes to its lending policy. These policies govern how much the retail bank is willing to lend on different property types.  Most interesting for property investors, the bank will only lend a maximum of 70% of a property's value for any investment property. This includes any properties that would have been exempt under the previous LVR rules, like new builds and the dollar for dollar exemption. This will make it more expensive and challenging for investors to purchase a property if using BNZ.  Similarly, any flatmate and boarder income is not being used to calculate a borrower's servicing ability. That means that marginal borrowers who needed additional income to pass the bank's lending tests will now struggle to meet the minimum requirements.  We wrap up the episode by discussing our upcoming property investment webinar. You can sign up to attend by clicking the link above.

In this episode, we discuss how the property market is operating now that the country has come out of lockdown. This stems from a recent article Andrew provided comment for in The Press and for Stuff.co.nz (read the article here). We are seeing pent up demand coming onto the market, which likely stems from: a) the property market not being able to function during lockdown. 8 weeks worth of demand is now hitting the market in one week. b) potential property buyers have had time to research the market during the lockdown, which is providing renewed interest. TradeMe property, for instance, has reported a 38% increase in property searches from 18-29 year olds.  We also mention our upcoming property investment webinar, where Andrew will cover what he's learnt from owning 38 investment properties and how he manages to make sure that they are all performing for him. That is happening this coming Tuesday at 7pm. Click the link in this paragraph to register.

In this episode, we discuss how the property market performed during the Coronavirus-induced lockdown. This is based on data recently released by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand.  As predicted, volumes massively dropped during April 2020, down just under 79% year on year. However that decrease is not spread evenly, Auckland's volumes, decreased just under 69% year on year. That is in part the reason why the median house price continued to rise to a record price of $680,000. We also mention that we have our final weekly property investment webinar is happening this Tuesday at 7pm. This week Andrew will talk about how he manages his property investment portfolio, which at its peak had 38 properties within it.

In this episode, we discuss inequality and the difference between how different suburbs appreciate in value. Even if different suburbs appreciate at the same rate, if there were small differences in their initial starting values, one suburb can become more expensive than others within the same city.  This means that homeowners in one suburb can see their wealth increase at a much faster rate than homeowners in a neighbouring (slower growth) suburb.  We also discuss the inequality within investing between men and women, along with what we are doing to try to change the status quo. Finally, we discuss our upcoming property investment webinar, which you are most welcome to attend, next Tuesday at 7pm.

In this episode, we discuss how you can create a self-funding property portfolio. Generally, in property investment, there are two types of properties that you want to buy – capital growth properties that tend to grow in value quickly and yield properties that produce more cashflow.  The trouble for most New Zealanders is that to invest in property they need to borrow the entire purchase price of a property. This typically means that capital growth properties will be cashflow negative. However, a self-funding property portfolio will have a mix of cashflow positive and negatively geared properties so that the cashflow cancel one another out.  This was the topic of a webinar, which we recently hosted. You are most welcome to come along to another of our property investment webinars, which are currently held every Tuesday at 7pm.