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RNZ News
an hour ago
- RNZ News
Property market remains flat: 'For every upwards influence, you can find a downwards factor'
An abundance of listings means buyers are not in a rush to get deals over the line, says Cotality. Photo: RNZ The housing market's trek to nowhere continues, with a marginal price rise in June, reversing the declines seen in April and May. Data from property research firm Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) showed a 0.2 percent rise in median property values last month to $815,389. Prices remained more than 16 percent below the January 2022 peak, and were down 0.7 percent from a year ago. Cotality chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said an abundance of listings meant buyers were not in a rush to get deals over the line. The weak job market was another factor. "After all, it's not only the direct job losses that are problematic, but a reduction in security for those who have kept their jobs will also be weighing on the property market," Davidson said. He said first home-buyers continued to make inroads amid soft market conditions, but investors were also returning. "Mortgaged multiple property owners also remain on the comeback trail, particularly at the smaller end - those buying their first rental investment, or perhaps their second," Davidson said. He expected weak market conditions to persist for the remainder of the year and expected median values to lift by 2 to 3 percent for calendar year 2025. "The Reserve Bank's upcoming official cash rate decisions, including a probable hold next week on Wednesday 9th, aren't likely to sway the housing market too much," Davidson said. He also did not read too much into the commentary around a potential boost to the economy and property market as existing mortgage holders repriced to a lower fixed rate. "Some might save that extra cash or even keep their repayments the same and reduce the term of the loan," Davidson said. "In other words, for every upwards influence on the housing market at present, you can probably find a downwards factor." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
2 hours ago
- RNZ News
Immigration levy could hit international student numbers, say universities
Universities New Zealand says the cost of an immigration levy is likely to be passed on to students. File photo. Photo: RNZ Universities say a proposal that could make them pay a levy to Immigration New Zealand might harm international student numbers. The government is considering a law change that would allow Immigration New Zealand to levy organisations that benefit from its work, such as education providers. At the moment, it can only charge visa applicants. "Currently there are people and groups who do not contribute to the broader costs of the immigration system (because they do not pay an immigration levy; only visa applicants can be charged a levy under the Immigration Act 2009 (the Act)), but who do receive its benefits or create risks that require mitigation," a regulatory impact statement said. The statement said education providers benefited from Immigration NZ services that they did not directly pay for. "Education providers that enrol international students directly financially benefit from the immigration system by tapping into a wider pool of students who are generally charged high fees than domestic students for their education," it said. "Education providers that enrol international students also derive significant financial benefits from access to foreign students and benefit from the ICT, border, and settlement activities funded from the levy." Universities New Zealand said the cost of a levy was likely to be passed on to students and could deter them from enrolling in this country. It said the government needed to be careful the user-pays model did not cost the country more in lost economic activity than it earned Immigration New Zealand. "On average, each international student at a New Zealand university spends around $36,000 to study and this flows through to another $22,000 of broader economic activity for the country for a total of around $58,000 per student annually," it said. "International students have choices as to where they study and cost is a particularly important factor for many of the students from lower income countries." Universities New Zealand said Immigration NZ increased its student visa fees in October 2024 by 90 percent and actual student enrolments for the university sector for 2025 ended up about 10 percent below forecast. "As government considers amending settings around making users pay for public services, we hope that government will also consider the public benefits that flow through to the wider economy from these students," it said. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
3 hours ago
- RNZ News
NZ no longer in a state of 'peak tractor'
New Zealand reached a peak of 34,549 registered tractors in March 2022. Photo: Marika Khabazi New Zealand has fallen from 'peak tractor' with bigger machinery, rising on-farm costs and farmers becoming more efficient driving sales down. Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen says as a key piece of farm equipment, tractors have long been thought of as a good economic indicator of farm spending and investment. The more tractors, the more spending, and in turn the better the health of the primary sector - but this was changing, he said. Recent Infomatics' analysis of data from Stats NZ and the New Zealand Transport Agency showed the country hit 'peak tractor' in 2022. It showed the number of active tractors registered in New Zealand reached a peak of 34,549 in March 2022. By March this year that had dropped 4.4 percent to 33,044. The decline in tractor numbers is largely due to the low number of new tractor registrations over time. In the 12 months to April this year, there were 1925 new tractors registered in New Zealand, down 17 percent from a year ago and the smallest annual total since mid-2001. Both the actual number of registered tractors, and the 12-month moving average, have now fallen below 33,000, the first time tractor numbers have been beneath this threshold since 2017. Olsen said the drop was being driven by a range of factors, including changes in technology and farming practices. "Particularly the likes of larger tractors coming on stream, larger farms meaning you don't need quite as many tractors because of larger parcels of land, and also a bit more corpritisation of farming in New Zealand where people are using contractors and similar to ensure whatever they're buying tractors and otherwise are most efficiently used." Olsen acknowledged challenging conditions in recent years, including increased on-farm costs and higher interest rates, had put pressure on farmers and limited opportunities for new investment with many running tractors for as long as possible. He said a level of continued concentration in farms across the country into larger farm operations may have also contributed to a rationalisation of tractor assets nationally. Farmers also seemed to be investing differently as was evident at the recent Mystery Creek Fieldays near Hamilton. "People are starting to increasingly embrace a much wider more diverse set of technology in the primary sector," Olsen said. "You know there were a lot more drones at Fieldays this year, a lot of talk about wearables and the importance of the productivity gains that those sort of options bring." Tractor sales at the Fieldays seemed to have been buoyed though by the government's new tax incentive for farm machinery. Tractor and Machinery Association president Jaiden Drought said the Fieldays had been "fantastic". "Everyone went into the Fieldays very buoyant and the show was certainly a success. Everyone had significantly higher inquiry - they thought that even day one of the show was better than all the days combined last year." Drought felt the drop-off since 2022 related to post-Covid conditions, which included farmers using tractors for longer and more jobs on farm. He said some of this market uncertainty remained, especially given the current geopolitical outlook. "I think the trend will see an upswing in machinery sales, I think we're just in a little bit of a holding pattern." He expected sales to improve in the spring. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
