The Head of ANZ Bank Healthcare in NZ, Richard Hinchcliffe, gave his view to their Retirement Villages Association conference this week in Auckland that the RV sector was enjoying THE perfect storm – times have never been so good:
- NZ is enjoying record house prices
- Consumers understand the RV proposition
- Record prices were being achieved on new and resales of RV units
- Village operators have an advantage over residential developers in bidding for new property
I have never heard a banker speak in such optimistic terms! He added that NZ is enjoying a steady inflow of overseas investment funds as well, chasing better yields.
Erring on the side of caution, he said his client boards are looking at the housing prices with some concern and that they are rising faster than Sydney and Melbourne. In fact the mortgage payments ratio to income is now exceeding 30%.
By comparison, we heard today that the Big Four banks here have all been reducing their development loan ratios - in QLD from 70/30 to 50/50. Clouds on the horizon for oversupply of apartments coming to market.
