EXPERTS CAST A WEATHER EYE OVER PROPERTY MARKET
We are living in strange times. Covid-19, the war in Europe, inflation, climate change, supply-chain disruptions, ever-rising interest rates, developers going into liquidation ... given these headwinds, will the property market weather the storm?
The May data from REINZ makes for interesting reading. It reveals that the credit crunch, uphill interest rates, and increased number of houses for sale, are continuing to dampen the market, with an unimpressive 2.4 year-on-year increase in prices. In dollar terms, this sees prices rise from from $820,000 in May 2021 to $840,000 in May 2022.
Month-on-month is more dramatic — the median price for residential property slipped by four per cent, from $875,000 in April.
But house prices are just one part of the story. The wider economy is displaying signs of distress.
The most recent GDP figures, down 0.2 per cent to for the quarter ending March 2022, are concerning. Given the backdrop of global gloom economically, fuelled by the war in Ukraine, this result isn’t completely unexpected.
Omicron has also played a huge role. “The impact of this has been
