The long term appeal of property investment remains – capital gain, ability to borrow and the alignment with wealth creation will continue to add value to those purchasing property from all buyer classifications.

Last week, the government announced a set of housing policies aimed at increasing supply and limiting investor demand, in an effort to address the current surge in housing prices.

February results published by the REINZ saw 7,964 residential sales throughout the country, which was 14.6 per cent up in comparison to February last year.

Our scheduled auctions continue to rise, reaching a 2021 high with 1,033 properties set for auction, a 161.3% increase compared to the same time last year.

We have quickly transitioned to a virtual platform for auctions and are seeing continued strength across most markets, with new listings coming in for buyers.

National data released this week by the New Zealand Treasury shows the strong momentum in the housing market observed at the end of 2020 continued into the first month of January 2021,

The supply-side is starting to surge and the demand is running at similar levels.

The Ray White group have completed sales numbers for January 2021 which show that there is a significant lift of 50.3 per cent up January 2020.

The current selling conditions lend strongly to property being marketed under competition.

The market share for first home buyers in 2020 reached 25 per cent in the third quarter, well above the previous average and the peaks of 2006/2007.