A message from our chief executive
Dear Property Owner, For almost two years, Kiwis have been cautious. Waiting.
Watching for the moment when uncertainty would ease and economic indicators would give us the signs we craved to make more confident decisions.
That moment may have just arrived.
The Reserve Bank’ s( RBNZ’ s) half percentage cut to the Official Cash Rate( OCR) earlier this month was more than a technical move. It was a message.
The RBNZ has thrown its weight behind growth, signalling clearly that the era of defensive policy is over.
Households, investors, and business owners are being asked to re-engage – to spend and invest to support economic growth.
With the cash rate now at 2.50 per cent, lenders, including New Zealand’ s‘ big four’ banks, have already made meaningful reductions to mortgage lending rates, immediately improving household spending power.
For the average homeowner, that shift is tangible. A household with a $ 600,000 mortgage on a 30-year term and one-year fixed rate will now be spending just shy of $ 700 less each month on repayments, compared with the same time last year.
Markets turn quietly before they hum, and the subtle shifts we saw in September’ s property data – a modest rise in national values after five months of decline – now look less like noise and more like the beginning of a broader reawakening.
Across our Ray White network, we’ re seeing signs of this momentum take shape.
Sales activity has risen by double digits in several regions, open home attendance is lifting, and auction success rates continue to climb.
Lower mortgage lending rates are flowing through to household balance sheets, helping to instil confidence and overcome the sense of paralysis that plagued the market recently.
As lending costs fall and serviceability improves, the spring sales market may well become one of the most strategically advantageous windows we’ ve seen in years.
Globally, too, developments such as progress toward a peace plan in Gaza could prove critical for market stability, reminding us that local decisions are increasingly shaped by international conditions.
When clarity returns, confidence follows, and confidence is the quiet catalyst that precedes momentum.
Please enjoy our 85th edition of Ray White Now.
For families who have been weathering the slow grind of higher costs, that relief is more than financial; it’ s psychological.
The RBNZ’ s new Governor, Dr Anna Breman, along with the rest of the Monetary Policy Committee( MPC), have sent the signal that the central bank’ s greatest concern is hesitation – the collective pause that has kept businesses from hiring, investors from engaging, and house hunters from making decisions.
Inflation, though still elevated, is no longer the primary threat; it is inaction that risks holding the economy back.
But this is the pivot point.
Economists have rightly described the decision as‘ front-loading,’ a form of shock therapy designed to jolt confidence back into a subdued economy.
Daniel Coulson Chief Executive Ray White New Zealand
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